Soldiers Shot By Men Posing As Afghan Police

Gunmen dressed as Afghan police officers have shot dead two Nato soldiers in the south of the country.

The shooting is the latest in a string of attacks on international troops by rogue members of the Afghan security forces or militants disguised as police.

Two other coalition service members also died in Afghanistan on Saturday, one in an insurgent attack and the second of non-battle related injuries.

The nationalities of the four casualties have yet to be confirmed.

There are conflicting reports of the shooting in Helmand province.

Fareed Ahmad, a spokesman for the provincial police, said two Afghan policemen had opened fire on coalition troops at a joint Afghan-coalition compound.

A third Afghan policeman fired at the attackers, killing one and wounding another who then escaped, Mr Ahmad said.

The attackers had been members of the Afghan National Police for a year and were from Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, he added.

Nato said it was aware of the Afghan statements but that operational reports indicated the assailants were insurgents dressed in police uniforms and not official members of the police.

A spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said: "We are aware of the claims that the shooters were AUP [Afghan Uniformed Police].

"However, operational reports indicate these were insurgents dressed in AUP uniforms and not actual AUP.

"The event is still being assessed and additional information may be released as appropriate."

The shooting came after a man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot dead a US soldier on Friday in eastern Afghanistan.

The attack on Saturday is the 16th incident this year in which Afghan soldiers or insurgents disguised in military uniforms have turned their weapons on foreign troops, according to Nato.

ISAF has taken several security measures in response to the shootings, including assigning "guardian angels" - soldiers who watch over their comrades as they sleep.

Around 130,000 coalition troops are fighting alongside some 350,000 Afghan security personnel against the Taliban-led insurgency but they are due to pull out of the country in 2014.