Unknown militants poisoned and shot dead six people including four policemen at a post in the southern province of Helmand.

Unknown militants poisoned and shot dead six people including four policemen at a post in the southern province of Helmand.

"Last evening in Nahri Sarraj district in a police post, four police and two guests were first poisoned and then killed, Helmand police chief Ahmad Nabi Elham said on Tuesday.
"Three police are missing," along with a vehicle and some weapons, he added.

"We don't know if the three missing are involved in the poisoning or if the militants have taken them away. The investigation is ongoing."
Police at the scene later clashed with insurgents, leaving two militants dead, he said.

The deaths come days after a policeman in the eastern province of Paktika poisoned and then shot dead nine of his colleagues while they slept.