US general was wounded in Kandahar attack

National Guard(KANDAHAR, Afghanistan) — Army Brigadier General Jeffrey D. Smiley was the wounded U.S. service member shot in Thursday’s insider attack in Kandahar that killed two top Afghan officials in the province. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan was also present during the attack, but was unharmed.

“I can confirm that General Smiley is recovering from a gunshot wound,” Lt. Cmdr. Grant Neeley, a spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO-led training command in Afghanistan, told ABC News.

“He is being treated at a Resolute Support hospital in Kandahar,” said Neeley.

Smiley is the commander of the Training and Advise and Assist Command-South (TAAC-South) that has the lead in advising Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan. He is a general with the California National Guard, in command of the Guard’s 40th Infantry, which is one of the lead units in Kandahar.

The identity of the U.S. service member injured in the attack had not been disclosed until Sunday after it was first reported by the Washington Post.

Carried out by a gunman wearing an Afghan security uniform, Thursday’s attack killed the top police official in Kandahar Province as well as the province’s top intelligence official. The governor of Kandahar was also wounded, as was another American civilian employee and an Afghan interpreter.

The gunman was shot almost immediately after opening fire.

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