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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A police officer opened fire on U.S. and Afghan forces at a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, sparking a firefight that killed two U.S. troops and two other Afghan policemen. The attacker was also killed in the shootout, officials said.
Outside of Kabul, meanwhile, U.S. troops fired on a truck approaching their military convoy, killing two Afghan men inside it.
The incident in the eastern Wardak province was the latest in a series of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces that have threatened to undermine their alliance at a time when they need to work increasingly close together in order to hand over responsibility as planned next year.
The attack also comes a day after the expiration of the Afghan president's deadline for U.S. special forces to withdraw from the province following accusations of abuse by those under their command.
U.S. officials have said that they are working with Afghan counterparts on coming up with a solution that will answer President Hamid Karzai's concerns and maintain security in Wardak. The majority of U.S. troops in Wardak are special operations forces.
In Monday's attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed hold of a machine gun and started firing at the U.S. special operations forces and Afghan policemen in the police compound in Jalrez district, said the province's Deputy Police Chief Abdul Razaq Koraishi.
The assailant killed two Afghan policemen and wounded four, including the district police chief, before he was gunned down, Koraishi said. He did not have a death toll for the U.S. troops.
The U.S. military said in a statement that two American service members were killed in the shooting.
Five Afghan police officers were being held for questioning by the Americans, Koraishi said.
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