3 US Soldiers murder by Afghan forces during fake dinner
A senior U.S. Army soldier was killed along with a couple of majors by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, and three special forces soldiers were gunned down by an Afghan commander who had won their trust and invited them to dinner.
Maj Kevin J Griffin photo/Department of Defense
The men were all American special forces members and were killed on Thursday night while attending a meeting in the Sarwan Qala area, in what appeared to be a planned attack by rogue Afghan forces.
“During dinner, the police commander and his colleagues shot them and then fled. The commander was Afghan National Police in charge of local police in Sangin,” a senior Afghan official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Sangin is a district.
“It looks like he had drawn up a plan to kill them previously,” the official said.
Killed in the attack were Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, 45, of Laramie, Wyo., the brigade’s senior enlisted soldier. As a command sergeant major, Griffin was one of the brigade’s senior leaders and provided leadership and guidance to the 4,000 man brigade.
Also killed in the blast were Army Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, N.Y., and Air Force Major Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga. Gray was an air liaison officer and flight commander attached to the brigade.
The brigade is tasked with providing security in three provinces that border Pakistan. Based in Fort Carson, Colo., the brigade arrived in Afghanistan this past April.
