KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against coalition servicemembers in southern Afghanistan late Wednesday, killing one, according to a Thursday news release.
The individual who opened fire was killed when coalition forces returned fire. A joint Afghan and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan team is investigating the incident.
USFOR-A works in conjunction with the International Security Assistance Force to bring security and governance to Afghanistan. As is policy, the identification and nationality of the individual will not be released until the family has been notified.
So-called green-on-blue shootings, in which members of the Afghan security forces turn on their coalition counterparts, have now accounted for at least 18 of the 112 coalition deaths this year, according to media reports.
The most recent attack was also in southern Afghanistan, in which an ANA soldier was killed after opening fire on a convoy of Bulgarians in Kandahar province.
This came soon after the April 10 announcement in Kabul in which Afghan security officials outlined a series of steps to prevent such attacks by Afghan security forces, including improved drug testing and background checks.