An Afghan Army pilot who killed eight US soldiers had no link with the Taliban

An Afghan Army pilot who killed eight US soldiers had no link with the Taliban, Nato said in a statement on Saturday.

"At this point in the investigation, it appears that the gunman was acting alone," Nato said in the statement.

"Beyond that, no Taliban connection with the gunman has been discovered, investigation is still ongoing and we have not conclusively ruled out that possibility."

On Wednesday eight US troops were killed when an Afghan Army pilot opened fire on his foreign trainers at a Kabul Airbase and the attack was killed in the exchange of fire.

Dr Hassan Sahebi, the brother of the pilot had told TOLOnews that his brother, Ahmad Gul, 48, suffered from a mental stress recently because he had faced some economic problems and had even sold his house.

"My brother Ahmad Gul honestly served his country for about 20 years and was never connected to the Taliban or al-Qaeda," Mr Sahebi had said.

The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, saying the shooter was a sleeper agent who used an Afghan army uniform and gained access to the military airport with the cooperation of an insider.

Foreign forces causalities have recently increased in the country.

On Thursday three Nato soldiers were killed in the Afghan violence.

The deaths brought the number of foreign forces killed in Afghanistan to 159 so far this year in the Afghan war.

Nearly 117 US troops, 16 from UK and 26 from other countries have been killed in Afghanistan.

There are around 152,000 foreign forces in Afghanistan and they are expected to hand over security responsibilities to the Afghan forces by the end of 2014.