Afghan military pilot kills 8 NATO soldiers

20:31, 27 April 2011

MOSCOW. April 27. KAZINFORM Eight foreign troops from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan and a contractor were killed by an Afghan Air Force pilot at the Kabul Airport on Wednesday following an apparent argument, the BBC reported citing NATO officials. Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

The "rogue" pilot, a veteran Afghan military officer, was also killed by Afghan security personnel in the shooting.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan released a short statement confirming the incident, but gave no further details.

Today's shooting is one of the deadliest in a string of attacks against NATO troops carried out either by renegade Afghan soldiers or Taliban dressed in police or army uniforms.

According to official information, at least 42 foreign troops have died at the hands of "friendly" Afghans since November 2009, when a "rogue" Afghan policeman killed five British soldiers in Helmand province.

NATO's exit strategy in Afghanistan envisions the transition of security responsibility to Afghan authorities by the year 2014. Afghan security forces are to be boosted to at least 300,000. Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version

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