Afghanistan: British soldier killed by a shot from the inside

A British soldier of the armed forces of NATO was killed by a man wearing the uniform of the Afghan army, the first victim in 2013 attacks inside Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

A person wearing the uniform of the Afghan army turned the gun against members of the armed forces of NATO in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing one of them, said in a statement the coalition which does not give details about the victim.

The British authorities have confirmed the death of one of their soldiers by an alleged member of the Afghan National Army in the district of Nahr-e-Saraj in Helmand province, a prey to the Taliban insurgency, but without revealing identity.

The attacker was also killed in the attack, also said a spokesman of the NATO mission.

This new attack inside comes as Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Washington for talks with U.S. officials on the stability of his country after the combat mission of the 100,000 NATO troops in late 2014.

After this deadline, Afghan forces only ensure the protection of the territory against Taliban insurgents, who currently refuse to join a peace process to prevent a new civil war in the country.

Over the past year, more than 60 NATO soldiers were killed by men in uniform in Afghanistan, a new phenomenon that worries the coalition. The multiplication of these attacks within has created a climate of mistrust between foreign soldiers and their Afghan allies.

NATO attributes much of these attacks to cultural differences or personal conflicts, but also recognizes that a quarter of them are due to infiltration of the Afghan security forces by Taliban insurgents.

Western forces have accelerated in recent months the recruitment of Afghan soldiers and police without being able to make a thorough investigation of security recruits, which facilitated the infiltration of Taliban, some analysts said.