Two US soldiers and two Afghan police officers die in Wardak station shooting

Co-operation between Afghan and coalition forces has been undermined by insider attacks as both sides work towards the handover of responsibility next year.

Two US soldiers and two Afghan police officers have been killed in a clash that broke out after a policeman opened fire on US and Afghan forces inside a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan. The attacker was also killed in the shootout, officials said.

The incident in Wardak province was the latest in a series of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces that have threatened to undermine their alliance at a time when they need to work more closely together in order to hand over responsibility as planned next year.

The attack also comes a day after the expiration of the Afghan president's deadline for US special forces to withdraw from the province following accusations of abuse by those under their command.

US officials have said they are working with their Afghan counterparts on finding a solution that will answer President Hamid Karzai's concerns and maintain security in Wardak. The majority of US troops in Wardak are special operations forces.

In Monday's attack, an Afghan police officer stood up in the back of a police pickup truck, grabbed a machine gun and started firing at US troops and Afghan police officers in the compound in Jalrez district, said the province's deputy police chief, Abdul Razaq Koraishi.

The assailant killed two Afghan policemen and wounded four, including the district police chief, before he was gunned down, Koraishi said. He did not have a death toll for the US troops.

A coalition military official said two US troops were killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose information ahead of a formal statement. A spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, Jamie Graybeal, confirmed that a man in an Afghan police uniform turned his weapon on coalition and Afghan forces and that there were injuries, but declined to give further details or confirm any deaths.

Five Afghan police officers were being held for questioning by the Americans, Koraishi said.

Karzai had ordered US special operations forces to leave Wardak province, which lies just outside the capital, Kabul, because of allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive behaviour. He gave them two weeks to leave, a deadline that expired at midnight on Saturday.

Source http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/11/afghan-police-deaths-shooting