Another Afghan police attack kills 2 US troops

Manish Swarup/AP

An Afghan policeman stands guard as election officials put up election participation posters at Baba Qushquar village, 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 5, 2004.?A newly recruited Afghan village policeman (not pictured) opened fire on his American allies on Friday, killing two U.S. service members minutes after they handed him his official weapon

KABUL, Afghanistan ? A newly recruited Afghan village policeman opened fire on his American allies on Friday, killing two U.S. service members minutes after they handed him his official weapon in an inauguration ceremony. It was the latest in a disturbing string of attacks by Afghan security forces on the international troops training them.

Later Friday, an Afghan soldier turned his gun on foreign troops in another part of the country and wounded two of them, a spokesman for the NATO coalition said.

The attacks in the country?s far west and south brought to seven the number of times that a member of the Afghan security forces ? or someone wearing their uniform ? has opened fire on international forces in the past two weeks.

Such assaults by allies, virtually unheard of just a few years ago, have recently escalated, killing at least 36 foreign troops so far this year. They also raise questions about the strategy to train Afghan national police and soldiers to take over security and fight insurgents after most foreign troops leave the country by the end of 2014.

The NATO-led coalition has said such attacks are anomalies stemming from personal disputes, but the supreme leader of the Taliban boasted on Thursday night that the insurgents are infiltrating the quickly expanding Afghan forces.

Friday?s deadly attacker in the far western province of Farah was identified as Mohammad Ismail, a man in his 30s who had joined the Afghan Local Police just five days ago.

He opened fire during an inauguration ceremony attended by American and Afghan forces in the Kinisk village, the Farah provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz said.

?As soon as they gave the weapon to Ismail to begin training, suddenly he took the gun and opened fire toward the U.S. soldiers,? Kemtoz said.

Ismail was shot and killed as the coalition and Afghan forces returned fire, the police chief said.

A spokesman for the international coalition force, Jamie Graybeal, confirmed that two American service members were killed Friday by a member of the Afghan Local Police.

The ALP is different from the national police and represents a village defense force under the Ministry of Interior that is being trained by international forces, including U.S. special forces.

Graybeal gave no other details on the Farah attack other than confirming the shooter had been killed.

Kemtoz, the police chief, said the attack took place about 8 a.m., after the U.S. forces arrived in the village to train the local police. He said one Afghan National Police officer was also seriously wounded in the shooting.

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/gossip/gatecrasher/~3/A7Um6q65EPs/afghan-police-attack-kills-2-troops-article-1.1138394

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