Joint Force Kills Rogue Afghan Soldier

Posted June 20th, 2011 at 7:55 pm (UTC-5)
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NATO says a rogue Afghan soldier suspected of killing an Australian soldier last month was tracked down and killed by coalition and Afghan forces Sunday.

The alliance said in a statement Monday that the Afghan was killed in eastern Khost province after pulling a gun on troops attempting to capture him, and that a man believed to be his brother was detained for questioning.

The Afghan soldier had been on the run since the May 30 killing in central Uruzgan province. The slain Australian serviceman was supporting mentoring efforts with the Afghan army.

Separately, three NATO soldiers were killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan Monday. NATO says the first soldier died in a bomb attack in the south, while the other two were killed in separate insurgent attacks in the east.

Also Monday, the Afghan government executed two men convicted for their part in the attack on a bank in the northeastern city of Jalalabad in February that left 40 people dead.

Officials say the two men, one an Afghan and the other a Pakistani national, were hanged Monday morning in a Kabul prison.

The bank attack targeted Afghan security force members collecting their salaries and sparked outrage in Afghanistan.

Surveillance video from the bank showed the assailants shooting unarmed civilians in the Taliban-claimed attack.

And the governor of northern Badakhshan province, Shah Waliullah Adib, survived an insurgent attempt on his life Monday while returning from a visit to the remote province's border districts.