KABUL – A US army general was among those injured in a Taliban attack ontop US and Afghan security chiefs inside a highly secure compound last weekin Kandahar province, a military spokesman confirmed.
US Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, in charge of NATO’s militaryadvisory mission in Afghanistan, suffered at least one gunshot wound inThursday’s attack, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
A gunman wearing an Afghan security forces uniform opened fire on a groupincluding General Scott Miller — the top US and NATO commander inAfghanistan — and powerful Afghan police chief General Abdul Raziq as theyended a meeting in the southern city of Kandahar.
Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman and key US ally who was credited withkeeping a lid on the insurgency in the south, was killed along withKandahar’s provincial intelligence chief and an Afghan journalist.
Colonel David Butler, spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, initiallyconfirmed on Twitter that three unidentified people were injured: one USservice member, one US civilian and a coalition contractor.
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Later, in tweets discussing US media reports that named Smiley, heconfirmed he was wounded.
That the Taliban could mount a deadly insider assault in such a securelocation rattled Afghanistan, a country long used to high-profile targetedkillings and violence.
It was also an unusual incident for the US military, whose generals seldomface attack and are rarely wounded. – APP/AFP
