Attackers in uniform kill 2 NATO troops

KABUL -- Men wearing Afghan police uniforms shot dead two NATO service members Saturday in southern Afghanistan, authorities said, the latest in a string of attacks on international troops by Afghan security forces or militants disguised as police.

There were conflicting reports about the shooting in Helmand province.

Fareed Ahmad, a spokesman for the Helmand provincial police, said two Afghan policemen opened fire on coalition troops at 3 p.m. at a joint Afghan-coalition compound, killing two coalition troops. He said a third Afghan policeman fired at the attackers, killing one and wounding the other, who escaped.

The attackers had been members of the Afghan National Police for one year and were from Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, according to Ahmad.

NATO said it was aware of the Afghan statements, but that operational reports indicated that the assailants were insurgents dressed in police uniforms, not official members of the police force. The coalition also said that one attacker was killed and the second was being pursued. It said the shooting was still being investigated.

A man wearing an Afghan army uniform fatally shot a U.S. soldier Friday in eastern Afghanistan. That shooting was the 15th incident this year in which Afghan soldiers or insurgents disguised in military uniforms have turned their weapons on foreign troops, according to NATO.

Also Saturday, a roadside bomb killed a third NATO service member, while a fourth died of non-battle related injuries.

So far this month, 18 NATO service members have been killed in Afghanistan.