An Afghan ex-pilot opened fire after a row at a Kabul training centre on Wednesday, leaving eight US troops and an American contractor dead in the worst attack of its kind in almost a decade of war. Although the killings appear to have stemmed from a disagreement rather than a rebel attack, they highlighted the prevailing insecurity in Afghanistan, 10 years after a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed that eight of its troops and one civilian who were training Afghan forces died in the shooting. A Pentagon spokesman said all nine fatalities were American. Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said the Afghan pilot was shot dead by Afghan soldiers following the killings, which took place at a site shared by Kabul’s military and civilian airports.
