12 soldiers shot dead in N. Afghan insider attack

Some 12 Afghan army soldiers were shot dead by their fellow comrades in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz Monday night, an official said on Tuesday.

"Twelve Afghan National Army soldiers died after two of their comrades turned their weapons at a security checkpoint in Zakhil neighborhood on the western outskirts of provincial capital Kunduz city at around mid-night," Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, an army press officer in the region, told Xinhua.

The victims were sleeping when the shooting took place in the province, 250 km north of Afghan capital of Kabul, he said.

The soldiers behind the shooting fled the scene shortly after the incident and an investigation was launched into the incident, Karimi added.

Taliban militant group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

The Kunduz province and neighboring Baghlan and Takhar provinces have been the scene of heavy clashes over the past couple of months as Taliban has been trying to challenge the security forces in the once relatively peaceful region.

Several members of Afghan security force members have been killed in the so-called insider attacks across Afghanistan since the beginning of this year. Endit