Slain troops identified as Aussies

The three soldiers killed by an Afghan soldier have been identified as members of the Australian coalition forces. The deaths Wednesday bring to five the number of Australian forces killed in 24 hours, The New York Times reported. Two other Australian troops died Thursday morning when a helicopter crashed in Helmand province. Lt. Col. Hagen Messer, a spokesman for the military coalition in Kabul, said several other troops were injured. The crash, in the Garmsir district of Helmand, was likely caused by a mechanical problem, said a spokesman for the provincial governor's office. A member of the Afghan National Army shot the three Australian troops Wednesday night at a fuel depot in Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan. The Afghan soldier, identified only as Hikmatullah, then fled the base, Messer said. Gen. Abdul Hamid Wardak, commander of the Afghan 205th Corps in Kandahar, said the soldier was from Ghazni Province and had joined the army five months ago. The motive for the shooting was not immediately determined. Until the most recent incidents, Australian troops in Afghanistan had suffered only one fatality this year.