Two men wearing Afghan security force uniforms opened fire on Wednesday inside a military base in southern Afghanistan, killing two NATO service members before being shot dead, the international force said.
NATO offered few details about the shooting in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, which appeared to be the latest so-called “insider attack” to target foreign troops or contractors in the country. Afghan officials said they had no immediate details about the attack.
Wore Afghan fatigues
In a statement, NATO said the two men in Afghan uniforms opened fire on a vehicle with international troops inside it. Both shooters were killed when NATO forces returned fire, it said.
NATO did not elaborate. Neither did it identify the nationalities of the NATO members, who were killed, nor mention the base, where the attack too place. It said the attackers wore “Afghan National Defence and Security Forces uniforms,” which include the country’s police, military and border patrol.
Motive unclear
The motive for the attack was not immediately known and no group claimed responsibility for the assault. In past attacks, Taliban insurgents have been known to wear Afghan police or military uniforms to stage attacks on the international troops.
Others have opened fire apparently on the own accord, like an Afghan soldier who last year killed Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, the highest-ranked U.S. officer to be slain in combat since 1970 in the Vietnam War.
Third such attack
The shooting is the third “insider attack” on foreign forces this year. In January, three American civilian contractors were shot dead at Kabul airport by an Afghan soldier who was also killed. In April, an American soldier was killed by an Afghan soldier inside the compound of the governor of eastern Nangarhar province’s city of Jalalabad.
