Two Spanish police officers and their interpreter were shot dead Wednesday by an Afghan police recruit during a training session on the Spanish-operated army base in Qalay-i-Naw, in northwestern Afghanistan.
The two Spanish civil guard officers were part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. They were training a class of local police to eventually take over the ISAF responsibilities.
The trainee, Ghulam Sakhi, fired on his trainers and the interpreter and was killed in the return fire by security forces, according to a statement by ISAF.
Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting.
“What is clear is that it was a premeditated attack. ... It was a terrorist attack,” said Spain’s Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, speaking at a news conference, according to AFP.
The SITE intelligence group, which monitors Taliban activities, reported that the Taliban claim Sakhi had a “special connection” to them.
When word of the incident got out, hundreds of angry local residents tried to storm the base to protest Sakhi’s death, a police spokesman told AFP.
The crowd shouted and threw stones, trying to enter the base. Afghan police, the army, and Western forces were called to help end the protest that left at least 25 seriously injured.
Spain has 1,555 troops in Afghanistan, a little over 1 percent of the 141,000 ISAF soldiers.
The ISAF has been battling the Taliban in Afghanistan for the last nine years.
The two Spanish civil guard officers were part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan. They were training a class of local police to eventually take over the ISAF responsibilities.
The trainee, Ghulam Sakhi, fired on his trainers and the interpreter and was killed in the return fire by security forces, according to a statement by ISAF.
Authorities are still investigating the motive for the shooting.
“What is clear is that it was a premeditated attack. ... It was a terrorist attack,” said Spain’s Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, speaking at a news conference, according to AFP.
The SITE intelligence group, which monitors Taliban activities, reported that the Taliban claim Sakhi had a “special connection” to them.
When word of the incident got out, hundreds of angry local residents tried to storm the base to protest Sakhi’s death, a police spokesman told AFP.
The crowd shouted and threw stones, trying to enter the base. Afghan police, the army, and Western forces were called to help end the protest that left at least 25 seriously injured.
Spain has 1,555 troops in Afghanistan, a little over 1 percent of the 141,000 ISAF soldiers.
The ISAF has been battling the Taliban in Afghanistan for the last nine years.
