A man dressed in Afghan army fatigues on Thursday shot dead two French soldiers in what appeared to be the latest attack by Afghan security forces on NATO troops. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the soldier joined the army in order to carry out his attack in Kapisa province, which is in the volatile east of the country where many of the 3,700 French troops in Afghanistan are based.
The insurgent group, which has been waging a 10-year insurgency against US-led NATO and Afghan forces, also said they carried out a roadside bombing in the southern province of Helmand that killed 10 local police. “An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against two International Security Assistance Forces service members in eastern Afghanistan, today, killing both service members,” an ISAF statement said.
The Taliban, who frequently exaggerate their claims, said three French soldiers were killed and several others wounded. “Ibrahim (the soldier)… achieved his aim by taking out three French invading troops and wounding a number of them after he opened fire,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on their website.
The perpetrator was also killed, he added. The incident brings the total number of coalition military fatalities this year to 563, according to an AFP tally based on independent website iCasualty.org, down from a wartime high of 711 in 2010. The victims were members of the French Foreign Legion, Paris confirmed.
“During a support mission with the Afghan National Army (ANA) in the Tagab valley, the two non-commissioned officers were mortally wounded by deliberate fire from an Afghan soldier,” the French presidency said. In a series of incidents, Afghan government security forces — or those purporting to be — have turned their weapons on foreign troops.
One such bomb Thursday killed 10 Afghan police returning from a recruitment centre in Helmand, the local government said. The victims were members of the US-funded Afghan Local Police (ALP) set up last year and touted as key to the security handover by 2014.
“Ten local police were killed and one was injured after their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province,” provincial governor’s spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. “Our mujahedeen fighters attacked a police vehicle and as a result 10 police were killed including a police commander,” claimed Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi.
