Two US troops were killed and six wounded by an Afghan soldier armed with a machine gun, the US military said yesterday.
The deaths came at a sensitive time in the 18-year-old war, with US President Donald Trump eager to bring US troops home and end the longest conflict in the country’s history.
The incident occurred late on Saturday at a base in Sherzad District, in the eastern Nangarhar Province.
“Reports indicate an individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined US and Afghan force with a machine gun,” US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Sonny Leggett said in a statement.
Nangarhar Governor Shah Mahmood Meyakhil said in an audio message to reporters that three Afghan commandos were wounded.
He said it was not immediately clear if the incident was a deliberate act by an “infiltrator” or an accident.
“It was not a clash between the forces,” Meyakhil said. “We are investigating.”
Leggett also said that the cause or motive behind the attack were not immediately known.
The US Army’s Seventh Special Forces Group (Airborne) said on Twitter that “several” of its soldiers had been killed or injured during combat operations in Afghanistan.
Gunfire could be heard coming from a nearby Afghan security forces base late on Saturday followed by air evacuations, said Najeebullah, a Sherzad resident who goes by one name.
“We heard the sounds of gunfire and immediately helicopters landed inside the base and evacuated the casualties,” Najeebullah said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid later declined to comment, saying in a message only that the insurgents were “investigating” the attack.
Last year was the deadliest for US forces in Afghanistan since combat operations officially finished at the end of 2014, highlighting the challenging security situation that persists.
Depending on how one qualifies combat deaths, about 20 US troops were killed last year.
Since the US-led invasion in October 2001, about 2,400 US troops have been killed in combat in Afghanistan.
In December last year, Taliban infiltrators in the Afghan military killed nine Afghan soldiers in central Afghanistan.
In July, an Afghan soldier killed two US troops as they were visiting an Afghan army base in Kandahar.
Such attacks are sometimes called “green-on-blue” incidents.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese