Four more insider deaths in Afghanistan

The Associated Press reports that four more NATO troops were killed in insider attacks today, one Italian was killed by a grenade-wielding insurgent while three US instructors were murdered by a trainee in an apparent argument;

An argument between the Afghan soldier and his trainers appeared to have led to Saturday’s shooting on an Afghan National Army base in Paktika’s Kher Qot district, according to a statement from the provincial governor’s office. The international military coalition in Afghanistan confirmed that three U.S. service members died in an insider attack but gave few other details.

The angry Afghan soldier opened fire during the argument, killing the three foreign trainers and wounding three others, according to the governor’s statement. The foreigners returned fire and killed the Afghan soldier, who had no known connection to the insurgency.

The good news is that they killed their attacker, so they actually had their guns with them and he wasn’t able to kill more. The bad news is that this is the fifth insider attack which has claimed nine lives including a contractor.

The Defense Ministry said the attack in Farah province came as the Italian soldiers were returning to their base from training Afghan security forces.

The Italian convoy of three armored vehicle apparently had been slowed by traffic near an intersection when an attacker ran up and threw an explosive device into the lead vehicle, the ministry said. It added that the three wounded soldiers’ injuries were not life-threatening.

The Taliban quickly took responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claiming that the attacker was an 11-year-old boy.

That last part about the 11-year-old sounds like a ploy to get the troops to mistrust kids and get some of the kids killed if they get too close to vehicles in order to split the populace from their defenders.

Category: Terror War