An American general was killed and more than a dozen people were wounded on Tuesday, including a German general, in the latest insider attack by a man believed to be an Afghan soldier, United States, German and Afghan officials said, according to The Associated Press.
The U.S. Army said late on Tuesday the slain general was Major General Harold Greene, a senior officer with the international military command ISAF, the AP reported. He was the most senior U.S. military official killed in action overseas since the war in Vietnam, military officials said.
"These soldiers were professionals, committed to the mission," U.S. Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno said in a statement, referring to the soldiers killed and wounded in the attack, according to the AP.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters that "many were seriously wounded," and the gunman was killed in the attack, which took place on Tuesday at the Marshal Fahim National Defense University, a training center in Kabul, the AP reported.
The attack raised fresh questions about the ability of NATO soldiers to train and advise Afghan security forces as western nations gradually withdraw, according to the AP. The U.S. and German generals were on a routine visit, the Pentagon said.
A U.S. official said the gunman fired on the foreign soldiers using a light machine gun, the AP reported. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry described him as a "terrorist in army uniform."
The German military said its general was one of 14 coalition troops wounded in Tuesday's attack, adding that his life was not in danger, according to the AP. Seven Americans and five British troops were among the wounded, an Afghan official said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with General Joe Dunford, who commands U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan, about the incident, Kirby said, the AP reported.
Hagel said the shooting was being investigated jointly by Afghan authorities and the international military coalition that is winding down its long mission in Afghanistan, according to the AP.
The Afghan president was quick to condemn the attack, saying the delegation had been visiting the facility to help build the country's security forces, the AP reported.
