A gunman wearing an Afghan army uniform has killed two Americans in Kabul, in an attack near a coalition base in the Afghanistan capital that wounded three other US citizens.
The two victims, a service member and civilian, were working as part of a Nato mission to assist Afghan security services, according to the US forces in Afghanistan.
“Anytime we lose a member of our team, it is deeply painful,” said General John W Nicholson, commander of US Forces – Afghanistan and Resolute Support, in a statement. “Our sympathies go out to the families, loved ones and the units of those involved in this incident.”
The victims were conducting duties as part of the Nato mission to train, advise, and assist the Afghan security services. The US Department of Defense has not publicly identified the individuals because their next-of-kin still need to be notified.
The US forces in Afghanistan said in a statement that the assailant was later killed and an investigation into the attack was under way.
Nato has security measures to counter the threat of these “insider attacks”, which western officials say usually stem from personal disputes and cultural misunderstandings rather than insurgent plots.
In August last year, a man wearing an Afghan military uniform shot dead two American soldiers in the southern opium-rich province of Helmand.
And in April last year an American soldier was killed in a skirmish between US and Afghan troops in eastern Afghanistan.
The killings have bred fierce mistrust between local and foreign forces even as the rate of such incidents has dropped in recent years.
