Afghan policewoman kills security advisor at Kabul headquarters

KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan policewoman on Monday shot and killed a foreign advisor at the police headquarters in Kabul, officials said.

Kabul’s deputy police chief, Mohammad Daoud Amin, identified the shooter as a member of the force’s gender rights section but said it was not clear whether the shooting was intentional. The woman is in police custody and an investigation is underway, he said.

Air Force Lt. Col. Les Carroll, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, said the victim was a civilian advisor to the Afghan police. Citing ISAF policy, Carroll said he could not provide the victim’s identity or nationality. Amin said the advisor was an American.

If confirmed as an insider attack, it would appear to be the first time that a female member of Afghanistan’s security forces has turned a gun against a member of the Western coalition.

A surge of such attacks, also known as “green-on-blue” killings, has eroded trust between Afghan and NATO forces as they try to contain the Taliban insurgency ahead of the withdrawal of most international troops by the end of 2014.

Afghan soldiers and police -- or insurgents wearing Afghan security force uniforms -- have killed more than 50 NATO troops this year.

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Baktash is a Times special correspondent.