msnbc   |  September 16, 2012

4 US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Four U.S. troops fighting with the NATO-led alliance were killed in another suspected "insider" attack in southern Afghanistan.  NBC's Atia Abawi reports.

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>>> four americans are dead after another so-call insider attack. a member of the afghan security forces reportedly opened fire on the security check point. nbc's atia abawi is in kabul with more. hello to you. what's the latest?

>> the deadliest year for insider attacks. 51 nato coalition members have died this year alone from these insider attacks. that's up from 35 in all of 2011 . before that in 2007 and 2008 there was a grand total of four coalition soldiers who died from these insider attacks. this one today occurred in zabul province in southern afghanistan. it seems from local officials that they may have been duped by the police. the police were at a security check point according to one afghan official. they say that they were under attack and called for help from these american service members. when they came, some, at least one, turned his weapon on the american service members and killed four of them, wounding at least two others. according to the taliban, of course, they're taking the claim of responsibility for the attack. they say it's to avenge this anti-islamic movie that has claimed outrage in the muslim world . we should also mention two other nato service members were killed yesterday in helmand province . they were british soldiers by the same kind of insider attack.

>> again, leading to this very disturbing trend. may i ask you quickly about a developing story, atia, happening there? a controversial air strike by nato ?

>> reporter: that's -- that's right. at least eight afghan women were killed. seven others injured when a nato air strike targeted a province in the east. these women apparently were gathering firewood in a nearby forest. nato mistook them for insurgents, dropped a bomb, killing eight of them, injuring the other seven as well. this has outraged president karzai. he sent a statement out condemning the attack and calling for an investigation. obviously this won't be much for already multiple criticisms to nato .