Afghan soldier "sleeper agent" blamed for killing 3 US soldiers and 5 others

NATO: 3 service members killed in Afghanistan
(AP) – 4 hours ago
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Three more NATO service members were killed in attacks in Afghanistan on Saturday, the international coalition said, making a total of eight killed on one of the deadliest days for NATO troops this year.
The three deaths announced Sunday came from two separate bomb attacks in the south on the same day that five NATO service members were killed in a suicide bombing by a Taliban sleeper agent at a U.S. base in the east.
NATO officials have said they expect a particularly violent spring and summer in Afghanistan as insurgents try to pour back into areas taken over by international troops over the winter.
Fighting usually increases in Afghanistan as the weather warms and insurgents climb back over the mountainous border with Pakistan. This year, NATO has pushed further into Taliban strongholds in the south and has said their goal is to hold these areas so that militants cannot re-establish themselves.
The next couple months are particularly key for the United States, because President Barack Obama has pledged to start drawing down troops in July.
The suicide attack in eastern Laghman province also killed four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing and spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said Sunday that the soldier was a sleeper agent who had been in the army for years and had been in contact with Taliban operatives for "a long time."

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3 service members killed in Afghanistan