Afghan gunman kills two British soldiers

The Western security source, who requested anonymity, told AFP that an Afghan soldier was also shot dead, as well as the killer, at a provincial reconstruction team base in Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

Another Briton was wounded, he added.

The deaths are the latest in a series of "green on blue" killings, where Afghan security forces turn their guns on their international colleagues, an ISAF spokesman said.

Fifteen personnel from NATO\'s US-led International Security Assistance Force have died in such incidents this year, the spokesman said.

He declined to confirm the nationalities of the two latest victims, in line with standard ISAF policy.

A senior Afghan official told AFP the gunman approached the base from outside, where there was "apparently" an argument and the man opened fire.

Helmand is a stronghold of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan but Lashkar Gah was among the first places where responsibility for security was handed over from ISAF to Afghan forces as part of a gradual transition process.

The deaths come less than three weeks after six British soldiers were killed when a huge explosion ripped through their armoured vehicle during a patrol near Lashkar Gah.

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for that attack, which pushed the number of British dead in Afghanistan over the 400 mark.

Britain is the second biggest contributor of troops to Afghanistan after the United States with 9,500 soldiers, but it is set to pull out all combat forces by the end of 2014 in line with other NATO nations.

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