British soldier shot dead in Afghan ‘insider attack’

KABUL - Agence France-Presse

A member of the Afghan army shot dead a British soldier, officials said yesterday, in the latest “insider attack” to undermine the U.S.-led mission training Afghans to take over from NATO troops next year.

The attack came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai prepared for talks in Washington on long-term U.S. military and civilian support for his country. The British member of an engineering regiment was killed when the Afghan soldier opened fire on Jan. 7 at a base in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province in the insurgency-ridden south.

NATO soldiers are fighting alongside Afghan colleagues to thwart Taliban militants. But more than 60 foreign soldiers were killed in 2012 in “insider attacks” that have bred mistrust and threatened to derail the training process.