Kabul - An Afghan army soldier killed two US-led coalition soldiers and wounded a third before shooting himself to death in northern Afghanistan on Friday, the US military said.

"One coalition service member was killed today, another died of wounds, and a third was wounded by an Afghan National Army soldier who reportedly fired upon them," the US military said in statement, adding that the Afghan soldier killed himself immediately after the shooting.

The wounded soldier was evacuated for treatment and a "fourth service member appeared uninjured but was evacuated to a medical facility for evaluation," the statement said.

It did not disclose the nationalities of the soldiers, nor did it say where in the northern region the incident took place.

Afghan Minister of Defence Abdul Rahim Wardak said in the statement that he was saddened by the incident and said, "it is too early to speculate, but the investigation will bear out the truth."

The minister vowed that "full corrective action will be taken."

It was not immediately known if the attacker had defected to the Taliban insurgents, who have waged a bloody insurgency against the international forces in Afghanistan, or a personal motivation was behind the attack.

But the statement said that it was the first incident of its type in recent memory. (dpa)