Afghanistan: Nato soldiers shot by Afghan 'policeman'

Two Nato soldiers have been shot dead by a man wearing an Afghan border police uniform in Afghanistan's Faryab province, officials say.

Nato is investigating the incident but said the gunman had fled the checkpoint where the shooting happened.

This is not the first time Afghan security personnel have opened fire on international forces.

Last November an Afghan border policeman killed six US soldiers who were training local police officers.

The Nato soldiers had gone to a meeting at the border police post. A man in a watch tower overlooking the entrance to the base opened fire on them, witnesses said.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul said the fact that the gunman was in the watch tower suggests he was a member of the police and not an insurgent in a borrowed or stolen police uniform.

Nato's exit strategy for Afghanistan involves progressively handing over to the local security forces.

Seven provinces and cities were named in the first tranche of areas to be transferred to local control in July.

There are now more than 260,000 Afghan security personnel, of whom more than 160,000 were trained over the past year.

The Americans alone are investing $11bn (£6.82bn) a year in the training mission.

But with so many new recruits being taken on, there are questions over the vetting process, the extent to which the Taliban may have infiltrated those forces, and their loyalty and reliability, our correspondent says.

Last July, three members of the British Gurkhas were killed by an Afghan soldier. In 2009, five British soldiers were killed by an Afghan police officer in Helmand.

The attack comes after days of violent protests across Afghanistan over the burning of a Koran in the US last month.

On Friday, 14 people, including seven UN staff, were killed in Mazar-e Sharif, one of the areas to be handed over to Afghan control as US-led forces begin to withdraw in July.