Police Chief Fired Over Afghan Insider Attack On NATO

NATO soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol in Spin Boldak, along Afghanistan's border with Pakistani, in a 2008 photo.

An Afghan district police chief has been fired after one of his men killed a NATO soldier.

Officials said on August 21 that the police chief of Spin Boldak district in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar was sacked over the latest incident, when a member of the Afghan National Police opened fire on his foreign colleagues, killing one and wounding another on August 19.

The move marks the start of a crackdown on the increasing number of insider attacks.

It came after President Barack Obama and top U.S. military officers expressed growing concern over insider attacks in which uniformed Afghans turn their weapons against their NATO allies.

The death toll from insider attacks has reached 40 this year, or around 13 percent of all international coalition deaths in 2012.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters