Two US soldiers were killed Saturday when an Afghan army solider opened fire on them in eastern Afghanistan, an Afghan official said.
Two other USA soldiers were killed in the Achin District in late April, according to CNN, during a raid targeting ISIS, and in early April an Army Special Forces soldier was killed there while fighting the terrorist group.
In Kabul, meanwhile, the US military command said an unspecified number of Afghan police were killed and wounded in a "friendly fire" incident during a joint Afghan-US operation overnight Saturday.
Both Taliban and Islamic State terror group have claimed responsibility for the deaths in the volatile district of Achin.
So-called "green-on-blue" insider attacks by Afghan soldiers on worldwide service members were a major problem several years ago, but now happen less frequently after security measures were improved and the number of foreign troops in the country fell sharply.
It also comes as the Taliban ramp up their campaign against the government in Afghanistan, and as US President Donald Trump mulls sending more troops into the lengthy conflict.
The soldiers were shot in an apparent insider attack, also known as a "green-on-blue" because of the color-coding system used by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a U.S official told CNN. ON my way here I was informed that USA service members were killed and wounded in an attack in Afghanistan.
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It said the officers were killed when a U.S. aircraft "returned fire" during the operation, which included Afghan and American special forces.
Omar Zawak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said the deaths occurred when a United States aircraft fired on Afghan police, the statement said. A fourth soldier was wounded and is being treated for injuries.
The U.S. forces in Afghanistan have so far not commented.
In some cases Afghan troops have been forced to abandon more scattered and rural bases, and the government can claim to control or influence only 57 percent of the country, according to USA military estimates from earlier this year.
American and Afghan forces have been working together over the past few months in order to battle the local ISIS terrorists in the country's Nangahar province. -Afghan operation in the Achin District, eastern Afghanistan, along the Pakistan border.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump's national security team briefed him on the situation. A Taliban spokesman claimedthe shooter was an infiltrator for the militant group.
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