Rogue soldier kills nine, including five NATO troops, at Afghan army base

[News_Editor]

Rogue soldier kills nine, including five NATO troops, at Afghan army base

2011-04-16 16:49:16 GMT+7 (ICT)

LAGHMAN, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- At least nine people were killed, including five coalition service members, when a suspected rogue soldier carried out a suicide bombing at an army base in eastern Afghanistan, officials and insurgents said on Saturday.

The attack happened on Saturday morning at an army base under construction in the Qarghayi District of Laghman province, killing five coalition service members and four Afghan soldiers.

"As many as twelve NATO invaders and fourteen of their local puppets [were] killed in a martyr attack conducted by a lone Mujahid of [the] Islamic Emirate [..] when he blew his explosives vest on the morning of April 16," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said from an undisclosed location.

The Taliban frequently exaggerates the number of casualties and other details for propaganda purposes. Officials confirmed the deaths of five coalition service members and four Afghan soldiers. Mujahid identified the suicide bomber as Abdul Ghani.

"Saturday's attack was a pre-planned operation for the sake of which the martyr-seeking Mujahid had joined the puppet military forces a month ago, and occurred when a number of the Afghans and US-NATO officials [..] were busy holding a meeting within the facility," Mujahid added. The Afghan Defense Ministry confirmed the attacker was wearing an Afghan military uniform, but gave no other details.

Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply in recent years, with a total coalition death toll of 709 in 2010, making it the deadliest year for international troops since the war began in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eventually declared that the attacks of 9/11, which killed nearly 3,000 people from scores of countries, was considered an attack on all NATO nations. The NATO-backed war in Afghanistan aims to defeat the Taliban and other insurgent groups in the country.

So far this year, a total of 127 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Most troops are killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-16

[coma]

Who the hell is vetting these local forces? And more to the point, who is in charge of supervising and consistantly re evealuating such forces whilst operating in and amongst coalition troops, installations and perimeters.Surely were better than that?