UPDATE 4.30pm: DEFENCE Minister Stephen Smith says it will be easier to determine what motivated an Afghan soldier to turn his weapons on Australian diggers if he's captured alive.

Three soldiers were seriously wounded late yesterday when a rogue member of the Afghan National Army turned on Australia's mentoring taskforce with an automatic weapon and a grenade launcher.

Mr Smith said today it was too early to say if it was a Taliban-backed attack or an individual acting alone.

"We don't want to, and can't, rush to judgment," he told Sky News.

"It's always difficult to get to motivation."

But Mr Smith suggested it would be easier if the shooter was captured alive.

The Afghan soldier was pursued by his countrymen but escaped in an ANA vehicle.

In May, Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed in a similar incident.

United States and Afghan special forces later shot dead the Afghan soldier responsible, Shafied Ullah.

"We didn't get the chance to interrogate him,'' Mr Smith said today. "So we don't know the motivation.''

Mr Smith said Australian and ANA forces were cooperating to "resume the pursuit" of the soldier responsible for Tuesday's attack.

Defence force chief David Hurley also wants him taken alive.

"If we can question the person it's of great value to help us understand his motivation," he told reporters in Canberra.

Mr Smith said the latest attack, which would be "exhaustively investigated", represented a very serious setback.

"Events like this or the suicide bomb attacks that the Taliban have resorted to recently are a blow to confidence and trust and they are aimed at doing precisely that," he said.

''(But) despite these events we continue to very strongly believe we're on track to transition to Afghan responsibility for security matters by 2014.''

Mr Smith said there had been 15 such incidents over the past 12 months involving international forces in Afghanistan.

Australia will now raise vetting procedures with the International Security Assistance Force "to make sure everything is done to vet those people that go into the Afghan national security forces''.

The incident comes less than a fortnight after another rogue Afghan army soldier opened fire during a parade in Kandahar province, killing three Australian soldiers and wounding seven others.

The gunman fled the scene of the shooting in an Afghan National Army vehicle and is now on the run.

It is unclear what prompted the attack, which comes just 10 days after three Australians were killed and seven more were wounded by another rogue Afghan soldier in Kandahar province.

The attack follows Prime Minister Julia Gillard's surprise visit to Afghanistan just hours after an insurgent rocket was fired at the main Australian base at Tarin Kowt.

Defence won't speculate if two similar attacks are linked



Defence force chief David Hurley says it is too early to tell whether the latest shooting of three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan is linked to an earlier incident.

The Australians suffered serious wounds, but all were stable, and their families had been contacted, the defence chief said.

The incident happened less than a fortnight after a rogue Afghan soldier opened fire during a parade in Kandahar province, killing three Australian soldiers and wounding seven others.

"We need to do some digging, further digging,'' General Hurley told reporters in Canberra, when asked whether defence knew of the motives for the shootings.

Gen Hurley said there was not enough information to decide whether the latest attack was linked to the earlier incident.

"It is too early to speculate that the two incidents are linked,'' he said.

"I stress that there is no simple one-line explanation to this incident or the previous incident.''

"It was a highly-complex issue and there were many factors at play that would require further examination and analysis,'' Gen Hurley said.

He said defence did not know whether the earlier incident had triggered the latest shooting.

media_camera Shocked Australian troops at Tarin Kowt after hearing news three fellow Diggers died after being a rogue Afghan ally opened fire with a machine gun. Picture: Morgan Evan

Shocked Australian troops at the Tarin Kowt base after learning three fellow soldiers had been fatally shot dead by a rogue soldier late last month. Picture: Morgan Evan

Afghan allies disarmed after incident



Australian troops disarmed about 30 other ANA soldiers who were at the forward base following the shooting.

Gen Hurley said the soldiers were members of Mentoring Taskforce Three operating at a patrol base.

He revealed the ANA soldier "located in an overwatch position'' opened fire on both Australian and ANA soldiers using an automatic weapon and a grenade launcher.

"The three Australian soldiers suffered serious wounds and they received immediate first aid,'' Gen Hurley said.

They were transferred by helicopter to a medical facility at Tarin Kowt before being transferred to Khandahar.

Families of the wounded soldiers have been notified.

media_camera Prime Minister Julia Gillard waits to board a helicopter at Kabul Airport. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen

Julia Gillard waits to board a helicopter at Kabul Airport during her visit to Afghanistan. Picture: Alex Ellinghause

PM, Opposition want to stick with Afghanistan

Ms Gillard said today that her recent trip to Afghanistan – where she spoke to troops - showed progress was being made in expanding security.

"As distressing as these incidents are, as dreadful as these incidents are, our mission in Afghanistan does need to continue,'' Ms Gillard said.

While these attacks corroded trust, she stood by Australia's commitment to train Afghan soldiers.

"Training is pivotal to that mission and our purpose in Afghanistan is to deny Afghanistan as a country in which terrorists can train to wreak violence around the world.''

She said the thoughts of the nation were with the soldiers' families.

"I am very conscious that three Australian families have received news that their loved ones have been wounded in such dreadful circumstances,'' Ms Gillard said in Melbourne today.

"To those Australian families, I say my thoughts and the thoughts of the Australian nation are with them as they deal with this dreadful news today.''

Other Government and Opposition MPs today said they continued to back Australia's troop commitment, despite the shooting.

The Australian Greens, however, say it is time to pull out of the conflict.

Liberal MP Josh Frydenberg, who visited Afghanistan earlier this year, said the incident was "another painful reminder" of the difficulty of the mission.

But he said Australian troops were making a real difference on the ground by building schools and training Afghan soldiers and police.

There also was an exit strategy, supported by both the major political parties.

"We will see it through despite the heavy burdens and costs that we are incurring," Mr Frydenberg told Sky News.

with AAP

Originally published as Hunt for rogue soldier after Diggers shot