For the second time in a week, a renegade Afghan soldier opened fire on U.S. and NATO personnel Tuesday, NATO officials confirmed.
The most recent incident occurred Tuesday when an Afghan solider who trained others at a base outside Mazar-e-Sharif opened fire during a weapons exercise, killing two U.S. civilians and one Afghan soldier before he himself was shot and killed. The civilians are believed to be contractors, who often work as trainers at such bases.
Two others, including a NATO soldier, were wounded.
NATO and Afghan forces are jointly investigating the incident, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said.
Last week, an Afghan soldier killed three British service members with gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade in the dead of night.
The soldier fled after that attack, leaving his motive unclear, but the Taliban claimed that he was a militant sympathizer taken in by insurgents after the assault.
In November, an Afghan policeman killed five British soldiers at a checkpoint in Helmand.
The attacks come as the international coalition is ramping up the training of Afghan soldiers and policemen so they can ultimately take responsibility for securing and defending the nation.
The speed with which Afghan security forces are growing — the allies set an interim goal of expanding the Afghan army from 85,000 in 2009 to 134,000 troops by October 2011 — has raised concerns about infiltration by the Taliban and the professionalism of the forces.
