KABUL | Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:03am EST
KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan policewoman shot dead on Monday a U.S. forces member in the compound of the chief of police in the capital, Kabul, police and Afghanistan's NATO-led force said.
"A U.S. police adviser was killed in an attack by an Afghan policewoman," a spokesman for the NATO force said.
Mohammad Zahir, head of the police criminal investigation department, described the incident as an "insider attack" in which Afghan forces turn their weapons on Western troops they are supposed to be working with.
It appeared to be the first time that a woman member of Afghanistan's security forces shot a member of the Western coalition in an insider attack.
The incidents have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.
At least 52 members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force have been killed this year by Afghans wearing police or army uniforms.
(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
