KABUL: A member of Afghanistan's government-backed militia program has shot and killed five of his colleagues, an official said Friday.    

The shooting occurred Thursday morning in a remote part of Qadis district of Badghis province, said provincial spokesman Mirwais Mirzakwal.

He said he did not have additional details on the shooting because the region was difficult to reach by telephone, and investigators had been sent to the site.

The attacker was a member of the Afghan Local Police, a program in which the Afghan government and its international allies train and pay villagers to defend against insurgents and other militants.

It was the latest in a string of insider attacks by members of the Afghan security forces against their colleagues or foreign troops. Such attacks threaten the strength of the Afghan forces as they work to take over responsibility from international forces. Afghan police and soldiers are scheduled to take over security responsibility for the entire country sometime next year.

Separately Friday, a Nato forces service member was killed when a homemade bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan, the international military coalition said in a statement.

The coalition did not provide details or give the nationality of the service member killed.

Including the latest death, at least 11 members of the international forces have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month.