The two United States soldiers who reportedly were killed Saturday by an Afghan have been identified, according to multiple media outlets.
The soldiers are Sgt. 1st Class Javier Jaguar Gutierrez, 28, and Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rey Rodriguez, according to The Washington Post.
There were reports by a Nangarhar provincial official that seven U.S. service members were killed, but the United States military said two soldiers were killed and six were wounded. The Afghan who reportedly shot the Americans was fatally shot, according to officials.
American and Afghan military personnel were fired on while conducting an operation in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, the U.S. military said Saturday.
The U.S. soldiers were killed and six wounded in a so-called insider attack in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province late Saturday when an Afghan dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire, the U.S. military said.
Afghanistan’s defense ministry said one Afghan soldier was also killed and three injured in the assault.
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A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Sonny Leggett, said in a statement that Afghan and U.S. personnel were “engaged by direct firing.”
Late Saturday, Leggett said two U.S. service members were killed and six were wounded in the incident.
The Taliban and the Islamic State group affiliate operate in eastern Nangarhar province. The incident comes as Washington seeks to find an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war, America’s longest.
Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been meeting with Taliban representatives in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar in recent weeks. He’s seeking an agreement to reduce hostilities to get a peace deal signed that would start negotiations among Afghans on both sides of the conflict.
In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump referenced the peace talks, saying U.S. soldiers were not meant to serve as “law enforcement agencies” for other nations.
“In Afghanistan, the determination and valor of our war fighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress, and peace talks are now underway,” he said.
