US general confirmed wounded after Afghanistan shooting

KABUL: US Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley, was confirmed as one of two Americans wounded in Thursday’s attack that killed the police chief of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a spokeswoman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said.

Smiley, commander of Resolute Support’s training and advisory mission in southern Afghanistan, was shot when a member of the provincial governor’s bodyguard opened fire on a group of officials leaving a meeting with the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.

“I can confirm US Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley was wounded during a recent insider attack in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province,” a spokeswoman for the NATO-led force said in an emailed statement.

Miller was unhurt but Kandahar police chief, General Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan’s most prominent anti-Taliban commanders, was fatally wounded along with the local head of the NDS intelligence service General Abdul Momim.

The attack, which was claimed by the Taliban, was a devastating blow to the government, decapitating the security command of one of Afghanistan’s most strategically important provinces and demonstrating the insurgents’ ability to strike even top leaders.

Along with Smiley, one US civilian and a coalition contractor were wounded as the group of officials made their way to a helicopter due to take Miller and his party back to Kabul.