A rogue Afghan policeman drugged and then shot dead 10 of his colleagues in the country's volatile south early Tuesday, January 26, officials said, the second insider attack on police in just over a week, AFP reports.

The Taliban infiltrator then stole their weapons and fled the police outpost in the Chinarto district of Uruzgan province, authorities said, triggering a manhunt.

The attack just after midnight is part of the Taliban's unprecedented winter campaign of nationwide violence despite a growing push to restart formal peace talks.

"Our investigation shows that this policeman collaborated with the Taliban, drugged his colleagues and killed them when they were unconscious," Dost Mohammad Nayab, the spokesman for Uruzgan's governor, told AFP.

Deputy provincial police chief Rahimullah Khan confirmed the account and said an operation had been launched to track down the killer.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, giving a different account, said nine policemen were killed after the militants captured the police outpost in Chinarto.

So-called insider attacks -- when Afghan soldiers or police turn their guns on their colleagues or on international troops -- have been a major problem during NATO's long years fighting alongside Afghan forces.