An Afghan provincial police chief was gunned down in a suspected insider attack just a month after his influential predecessor was assassinated, officials said Sunday, following the launch of the Taliban’s spring offensive.
Gulab Khan was killed apparently by a fellow policeman while he was inspecting a security check post late Saturday in the southern province of Uruzgan.
“Gulab Khan and one of his friends were killed in the provincial capital Trin Kot,” Dost Mohammad Nayab, a spokesman for Uruzgan’s governor said.
“They were shot at close range. The police have launched an investigation and arrested his bodyguard.”
Gul Agha, a senior police official in Trin Kot, confirmed the incident.
Khan was recently promoted to the post of acting police chief of Uruzgan after serving as the deputy chief for 12 years. His appointment came after a suicide bomber last month killed the province’s high-profile head of police, Matiullah Khan, who worked closely with NATO troops during their combat mission.