An Afghanistan National Army soldier stands guard at a gate of Camp Qargha west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday. A man dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire Tuesday on foreign troops at a military base, causing casualties, an Afghan military spokesman said. In a statement NATO said it was investigating an “incident” involving both Afghan and international troops at Camp Qargha which trains officers for the country’s army.KABUL, Afghanistan – An American major general was killed Tuesday in one of the bloodiest insider attacks of the long Afghanistan war when a gunman dressed as an Afghan soldier turned on allied troops, wounding about 15 U.S. and coalition forces, including a German general and two Afghan generals.
The U.S. two-star general was the highest-ranked American officer killed in combat in either of the nation’s post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His name was not immediately released.
The attack at Marshal Fahim National Defense University underscored the tensions that persist as the U.S. combat role winds down — and it wasn’t the only assault by an Afghan ally on coalition forces on Tuesday. In eastern Paktia province, an Afghan police guard exchanged fire with NATO troops near the governor’s office, provincial police said. The guard was killed in the gunfight.
It wasn’t clear if the two incidents were linked, and police said they were investigating.
The circumstances of the lethal attack at the defense university were murky. The wounded included a German brigadier general and two Afghan generals, officials said. A U.S. official said that of the estimated 15 wounded, about half were Americans, several of them in serious condition.