KABUL – An Afghan policeman shot dead six Nato soldiers yesterday before being shot himself.
Yesterday’s shooting – the highest toll for Nato forces since nine Americans died in a September helicopter crash – was the latest in a series in which the country’s security forces have turned on their Nato partners.
The interior ministry confirmed that the gunman was a border police officer and not an insurgent disguised to infiltrate government forces.
The incident happened in Pachir Wagam district of Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan.
Nato declined to identify the nationalities of the victims but the majority of forces in Nangarhar are American.
There have been several incidents in which police officers turned on their trainers.
Nato is investigating one in which two US marines were killed earlier this month in southern Helmand province at the hands of an Afghan army soldier.
On July 20th, an Afghan army sergeant got into an argument at a shooting range in the north of the country and shot dead two American civilian trainers before being killed. Another Afghan soldier was killed in the crossfire.
In a July 13th attack, an Afghan soldier stationed in the south killed three British soldiers, including the company commander, with gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade in the middle of the night.
Also, in November 2009, a policeman killed five British soldiers at a checkpoint in Helmand. A month earlier, a policeman on patrol with US soldiers fired on the Americans, killing two.
Such shootings highlight the potential hazards of a push to speedily expand Afghanistan’s army and police forces in the next few years.
The goal is to turn over the responsibility for national security to Afghan forces by 2014 so that Nato troops can withdraw. – (AP)