News of the day from across the globe, March 1

An Afghan policeman turned his rifle on his colleagues at a checkpoint in southern Helmand province, killing 11 of them before fleeing the scene, officials said Tuesday.

The attacker collected all the firearms and ammunition from his colleagues, then fled the scene in a police vehicle — presumably to join the Taliban.

Battle for Mosul:

Since Iraqi government forces launched the push to take the western half of Mosul from the Islamic State last week, about 8,000 people have fled from that part of the city and surrounding villages, the U.N. humanitarian aid agency said Tuesday.

With the support of the U.S.-led coalition, Iraqi forces began the operation to retake western Mosul on Feb. 19, and have so far captured the city’s international airport and a sprawling military base next to it as well some neighborhoods from the southern edge.

Israeli forces began evacuating nine homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court decision that ruled they were built on private Palestinian land.

Dozens of settlers and their supporters were protesting on the rooftops as military and police forces handed the evacuation orders to settler leaders and asked them to cooperate peacefully and avoid confrontation.

Ishaq was custodian at a shrine in Punjab province when he was arrested and sentenced to death in 2013 after a citizen accused him of claiming in conversation to actually be God.