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Rogue Afghan soldier kills 2 NATO troops

So-called insider attacks have mounted recently as tension between Afghanistan and its foreign backers rises over a series of incidents, including the burning of Korans at a NATO base and a massacre of 17 villagers for which a U.S. soldier was charged.

The latest incident took place at about 11 a.m. in Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province at the main entrance to a base housing military and civilian reconstruction teams, the provincial governor’s office said in a statement.

The attacker was shot dead by NATO soldiers, the alliance and the governor’s office said. NATO did not identify the soldiers or give their nationality, although Helmand is the main area of operations for British forces in Afghanistan.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“A joint Afghan and ISAF team is investigating the incident,” said Captain Justin M. Brockhoff, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistant Force.

Before Monday’s attack, 13 members of the NATO-led force had been killed this year in what appeared to be attacks by members of Afghan forces, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces, General John Allen, told a U.S. Senate committee last week.

About 70 members of the NATO force have been killed in 42 insider attacks from May 2007 to January this year.

The shootings raise new concern about the reliability of Afghan forces and their ability to take over security responsibilities by the end of 2014, when most Western combat forces are to leave.

Some incidents have been carried out by Afghan security forces reacting to the Koran burning last month, some have been due to private grievances and others have been carried out by Taliban insurgents who infiltrated the security forces.

An Afghan army general has said that the Taliban have a sophisticated system to infiltrate Afghanistan’s security forces and vetting of recruits must be severely tightened.

The Taliban have proven resilient in the face of far superior Western firepower. But poor management of the recruiting process for the army and police has also given them an opportunity to infiltrate.