1 NATO soldier killed, 2 wounded and 11 Afghan turncoat policemen who opened fire arrested.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Gunmen in Afghan police uniforms opened fire on NATO troops on Monday in southern Afghanistan, killing an Albanian soldier, officials said.
A second Albanian and another international soldier were wounded, they said. Eleven suspected policemen were arrested.
The shooting appears to be the latest in a growing number of turncoat attacks that have raised questions about the vetting of Afghan recruits and threatened the international military commitment to Afghanistan.
Last month, France suspended its training program and threatened to withdraw its forces a year ahead of schedule after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in eastern Afghanistan.
Monday's shooting occurred in the village of Robat, in Kandahar province's Spin Boldak district which borders Pakistan, said Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq. The troops had gone there for a meeting about opening two schools and a health center, the Albanian defense ministry said.
The soldiers "found themselves attacked by a group of persons wearing uniforms of the Afghan police," Brig. Gen. Viktor Berdo, the head of Albanian land forces, told reporters in the country's capital Tirana.
The attackers opened fire with five assault rifles and one light machine gun, the Albanian Defense Ministry said. One Albanian, a captain, died later in a hospital in the provincial capital of Kandahar city. Albanian officials initially said a corporal also was killed, but later clarified that the soldier was in a coma, adding "there is still hope of improvement."
Another international soldier was wounded, the ministry said, without providing a nationality.
The Albanian ministry said the remaining soldiers "arrested 11 Afghan policemen who opened fire."
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