Six guards beheaded in Afghan bank raid

Six private security guards were beheaded during a bank robbery in northern Afghanistan, police said today.

Sherjan Durani, spokesman for the police chief in Balkh province, said somebody mixed a suspected poison into the guards' food last night at a branch of Kabul Bank in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Mr Durani said an unknown number of robbers beheaded the guards and took about 269,000 dollars (£169,920) in US and Afghan currency.