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. This prompted France to announce it would speed up its troops withdrawal. There have been a growing number of cases where Afghan soldiers have killed their Nato colleagues. More than 20 foreign troops have been killed this year in the so-called "green-on-blue" killings. At the time of the shootings, officials said that the Afghan soldier opened fire after a "verbal clash". Four soldiers were killed instantly and a fifth died later of his injuries. Many others were also injured. Officials say that Saboor has the right to appeal against the sentence. The incident also exposed serious flaws in the recruitment process in Afghanistan's army. Shortly after the incident, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul saw documents which indicated that Saboor had faked his application. Saboor also had a history of mental health problems, which he covered up when he joined the army. International forces say that they have tightened up recruitment and introduced biometric tests, among other measures to cut down on these "green on blue" attacks, which have a damaging effect on morale.