KABUL, Afghanistan (CBS) -- An Afghan police commander and several of his men killed three U.S. soldiers in the southern province of Helmand, turning guns on them after inviting them to a dinner to discuss security, Afghan officials said on Friday (August 10).
The men were all American Special Forces members and were killed on Thursday (August 9) night while attending a meeting in the Sarwan Qala area, in what appeared to be a planned attack by rogue Afghan forces.
NATO's spokesman brigadier general, Gunter Katz confirmed the incident but said that an investigation is still ongoing.
"I cannot give you the specific details for this investigation since it is still ongoing, what I can tell you however, is that when we'll be looking to the other incidents, we take them very seriously, they are very tragic, but they don't reflect the overall situation here in Afghanistan," said Gunter Katz, spokesman for international security assistance force (ISAF).
The incidents of so-called green on blue shootings, in which Afghan police or soldiers turn their guns on their Western colleagues, have seriously eroded trust between the allies as NATO combat soldiers prepare to hand over to Afghan forces by 2014, after which most foreign forces will leave the country.
According to NATO, there have been 24 such attacks on foreign troops since January in which 28 people have been killed, not including Thursday's attack. Last year, there were 21 attacks in which 35 people were killed.