Death penalty for Afghan soldier who killed French troops

An Afghan soldier who killed five French soldiers in January has been sentenced to death by a military court, officials say.

Abdul Saboor opened fire on French forces during a joint operation in a remote part of Kapisa province. He was overpowered before he could flee.

A few days later, France announced it would speed up its troops withdrawal.

There have been a growing number of cases where Afghan soldiers have killed their Nato colleagues.

At least 26 foreign troops have been killed in 18 incidents this year in the so-called "green-on-blue" killings, which have a damaging effect on morale.

At the time of the shootings, officials said that the Afghan soldier opened fire after a "verbal clash" on 20 January, while Afghan and French troops were hunting down a local Taliban commander.

Four soldiers were killed instantly and a fifth died later of his injuries. Many others were also injured and an intelligence agent told the BBC that Saboor had fired 120 bullets.

Officials say that Saboor has the right to appeal against the sentence. He is believed to be the first Afghan soldier to have been captured and sentenced for shooting dead foreign forces.

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Source: BBC News, July 17, 2012

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