More insider attacks follow killing of U.S. general in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - As U.S. officials prepared to fly home the body of a two-star Army general who was killed by an Afghan soldier, there were two new so-called insider attacks targeting Afghan security forces, officials said Wednesday.

In the deadlier of the two attacks, an Afghan police officer killed seven of his colleagues at a checkpoint, then stole their weapons and fled in a police car late Tuesday in the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tirin Kot, provincial spokesman Doost Mohammad Nayab said.

A doctor at a local hospital told The Associated Press it appeared the police officer drugged his colleagues before the shooting. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to release the information. Nayab later denied that the police officers had been drugged and said the officer involved had Taliban connections, without elaborating.

In Paktia province, an Afghan police guard exchanged fire with NATO troops near the governor's office, provincial police said. The guard was killed in the gunfight.

Meanwhile, the investigation into Tuesday's killing of Maj. Gen. Harold Greene was focused on a lone Afghan soldier known by the single name Rafiqullah. He was killed in a shootout following the attack.

An Afghan official said the soldier had joined the Afghan army more than two years ago, and came from an area that is known to harbor fighters from the Haqqani network. It has strong links to the Taliban and carries out attacks against U.S. forces.

Meanwhikl,, NATO said Greene's body was being prepared Wednesday to be flown to the U.S. via Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.