KABUL – A NATO soldier was killed and two others wounded in aTaliban-claimed attack in Afghanistan on Monday, days after a US generalwas wounded in a shooting on a high-level security meeting.
NATO s Resolute Support mission did not immediately release thenationalities of the three soldiers involved in the assault in the westernprovince of Herat, but it is understood they are not American.
“Initial reports indicate the attack was committed by a member of theAfghan security forces,” Resolute Support said in a statement.
The apparent so-called “green-on-blue” attack was the latest in a series ofsuch incidents in which Afghan forces have turned their weapons oninternational troops with whom they are working.
It comes four days after a gunman wearing an Afghan security forces uniformopened fire on a gathering of security chiefs that included General ScottMiller — the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan — in the southerncity of Kandahar.
Miller was unhurt in the shooting inside the heavily fortified Kandaharprovincial governor s compound that killed three people, including powerfulpolice chief and anti-Taliban strongman General Abdul Raziq.
Resolute Support confirmed Monday that US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smileywas among 13 wounded in the Taliban-claimed shooting.
Read Top Stories
Smiley suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds and was “in Germanyreceiving further treatment”, the statement said.
The Taliban said the attack had targeted Miller and Raziq, but US officialsand Resolute Support said it was an “Afghan-on-Afghan incident” that hadnot targeted the American general.
In the incident s wake Tadeen Khan — a brother of Raziq and a member ofthe Afghan security forces — has been appointed acting provincial policechief, interior ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP.
Rumours on Afghan social media networks that Resolute Support carried outthe attack on Raziq were dismissed by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah onMonday, who blamed “the enemies of the Afghan people and their regionalsupporters” for the gossip.
“Such rumours are justifying the enemies atrocities,” Abdullah –Afghanistan s equivalent of prime minister — said in comments at a regularministerial meeting that were broadcast on Afghan television. – APP/AFP
