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KABUL: A German soldier was killed and eight others wounded Friday when a man in Afghan army uniform opened fire at an outpost in northern Afghanistan, a lawmaker said.
The shooting at a base in the Puli Khumri district of Baghlan province occurred as troops carried out maintenance on a vehicle, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
A man in Afghan uniform shot at the troops and they fired back, critically injuring the gunman.
A lawmaker in Berlin confirmed that the soldier killed was German, adding that eight others had been injured, four of them seriously, and said that the attacker was killed.
The death brings to 46 the number of German soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the end of 2001.
Giving details of the incident, ISAF said: “An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform fired at International Security Assistance Forces working on a vehicle in northern Afghanistan today, killing one ISAF service member.”A spokesman added that others had been injured but could not give details on numbers, saying an investigation had started into what happened.
There are around 5,000 German troops serving in Afghanistan as part of a US-led Nato force of 140,000, a mission that is unpopular among many Germans.
The death came the day after German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg visited his country's troops in Afghanistan.
The minister is embroiled in a scandal at home, where has just given up his doctoral title pending an investigation into claims that he plagiarised large parts of his thesis.
Earlier today a suicide car bomb exploded in the eastern Afghan city of Khost, killing at least eight people and injuring scores of others, police said. – AFP
