Kidnapped Afghan police escape after killing six captors

Aug 31, 2009, 10:56 GMT

   Kabul - One policeman and six hostage-takers were killed when four kidnapped Afghan police assaulted their captors and escaped in northern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Monday.

   The hostages, captured by a group of Taliban-led militants in Faryab province earlier this month, attacked their guards and seized their weapons to fight their way out of captivity Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

   'They disarmed the guards and killed six of them in fighting and then escaped from their jail,' the statement said. 'During this incident a policeman was also martyred.'

   The relatively peaceful Faryab province bordering Turkmenistan has seen an upsurge in Taliban-led insurgency.

   The rebels, who are most active in the southern and eastern regions, are seen to be extending their battleground northward.

   The poorly trained and equipped Afghan police forces have borne the brunt of Taliban attacks in the past eight years since the fall of the ultra-Islamic regime in a US-led military invasion. More than 2,000 police forces were killed in militant attacks in 2007-08.