An attacker wearing an Afghan army uniform has shot and killed a U.S. service member in eastern Afghanistan.
Friday's shooting is a minimum of the 15th incident this year by which an Afghan soldier or an insurgent disguised as a soldier has fired on coalition forces.
NATO said it was investigating and gave few other details, but Afghan officials said the incident happened in Kunar province. The Pentagon later said the service member was American.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, though the insurgent group regularly takes credit for violence inside the country even it if is just not involved.
Earlier this month, NATO said coalition forces shot and killed a guy wearing an Afghan army uniform after the fellow fired on a gaggle of coalition soldiers, leaving one dead. And in April, an Afghan soldier shot and killed an American service member in southern Kandahar province.
NATO officials say there have been no less than 15 attacks in Afghanistan this year during which an Afghan soldier or insurgent disguised as one fired on coalition forces.
Here are a few of those attacks:
May 5: Man in Afghan army uniform kills one NATO soldier in southern Afghanistan.
April 26: Afghan soldier kills a U.S. soldier in Kandahar province.
March 26: Man in Afghan army uniform kills two coalition soldiers in southern Afghanistan, two weeks after a U.S. soldier allegedly killed 17 Afghan civilians in a neighboring province.
February 20: Reports emerge that coalition soldiers improperly disposed of Qurans. This ended in several attacks by gunmen in Afghan security uniforms, killing six NATO service members.
January 8: Afghan soldier kills American counterparts in southern Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have said that a number of the so-called "insider attacks" are motivated by personal disputes.
The incidents have raised concerns about security in Afghanistan at a time when international combat troops are preparing to withdraw from the rustic. Â
International forces are set to transfer full security responsibility to Afghan forces by a 2014 deadline.
Meanwhile in southern Afghanistan, NATO says an insurgent attack killed certainly one of its service members on Friday. No other details got.
Also Friday, the United Nations' special representative to Afghanistan, Jan Kubis, told reporters that civilian casualties have gone down by 20 percent inside the first four months of this year in comparison to a similar period in 2011. Kubis wouldn't give exact figures, but said nearly all of civilian deaths are resulting from insurgent attacks, including suicide bombings. Â
On Thursday, a roadside bomb killed seven Afghan civilians, mostly women and kids, in Helmand province. NATO on Friday condemned the attack "in strongest possible terms." The coalition says the Taliban is answerable for at the least 450 deaths to this point this year.
The U.N. envoy also said that there's a stronger effort by international forces to avoid civilian casualties during coalition operations. The difficulty was a source of anxiety between the Afghan government and NATO.
On Friday, NATO said preliminary investigations found multiple Afghan civilians were killed or wounded during coalition airstrikes on May 4 and should 6 inside the southern province of Helmand. In a press release, the coalition took "full responsibility for these tragic and regrettable incidents" and said it's going to meet with victims' loved ones to precise condolences.
NATO said the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, U.S. General John Allen, will brief Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the result of the initial probe and pledge all appropriate actions to avoid such incidents from occurring sooner or later. The coalition also said action might be taken to carry those responsible accountable.
Coalition spokesman, General Carsten Jacobson, said Friday that the first task of the international force is to give protection to the civilian population.
In another development, Germany says President Karzai and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan next week.
A spokesman for Chancellor Merkel announced Friday the 2 leaders will meet in Berlin on Wednesday for wide-ranging talks earlier than NATO summit within the U.S. later this month.
Germany has the third largest contingent of soldiers serving within the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
From WhatNewsToday.net
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