US Military Claims Afghan Policeman Killed American Soldier In Insider Attack

U.S. Military said Tuesday an Afghan policeman was responsible for the latest insider attack in eastern Afghanistan, which killed an American soldier and wounded another.

The Pentagon identified the soldier who was killed as 42-year-old Army Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy A. Bolyard of Thornton, West Virginia. He died of wounds sustained from small arms fire in Logar Province, Fox News reported.

According to reports, the wounded service member’s injuries were not life threatening and he was reported to be in stable condition. No additional information about the incident nor the name of the Afghan policeman was provided at the time.

"One U.S. service member was killed and another wounded during an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan, Sept. 3," a statement issued by Resolute Support, the NATO-led military advisory-and-assist mission in Afghanistan said.

Soon after the attack, the policeman, who was visiting the officers, fled the scene but was later taken into custody by Afghan officials. Bolyard was the sixth American killed in Afghanistan this year, reports said.

He was the highest-ranking enlisted soldier of a unit that forms the U.S. Army’s newest adviser brigade deployed to Afghanistan in February, military officials told Newsweek. The brigade was part of Trump administration's latest strategy.

“The sacrifice of our service member, who volunteered for a mission to Afghanistan to protect his country, is a tragic loss for all who knew and all who will now never know him,” Scott Miller, Resolute Support and U.S. Forces – Afghanistan Commanding General, said.

“Our duty now is to honor him, care for his family and continue our mission,” Milleradded.

He assumed command of all NATO and United States forces in Afghanistan on Sunday.

The incident was the second insider attack in Afghanistan in 2018. In July, an attack by an Afghan security force member at an airfield on the military base at Tarin Kowt in the southern Uruzgan province killed one service member and injured two others. The area was said to be a Taliban hotbed. U.S. protective soldier Cpl. Joseph Maciel of South Gate, California, was killed in the incident.

In a separate incident, a U.S.-led coalition in Kabul announced an American service member, whose name was not released, died in a non-combat incident in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday. A statement said the incident was under investigation. No further information was provided regarding the incident.

Currently, U.S. has about 14,000 soldiers in Afghanistan for advising and assisting the country's military about conflicts with terrorist organizations Taliban and Islamic State. Reports said the threat of violence against U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan is currently far lower than what it was a few years ago.

In 2012, dozens of American soldiers were killed and wounded weekly, a report in Fox News said. Since 2014, the troops present in Afghanistan have taken on more advisory and training roles than combat. U.S. forces have been in Afghanistan since 2001.