US General's Killer Hid in Bathroom Before Attack

Maj. Gen. Harold Greene got shot in the back, reports NBC
By Shelley Hazen,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2014 12:29 PM CDT
US General's Killer Hid in Bathroom Before Attack
A 2011 photo provided by the Army of Gen. Harold Greene.   (AP Photo/U.S. Army, David Kamm)

When an Afghan soldier identified as Mohammad Rafiqullah returned from patrol yesterday, he didn’t turn in his NATO-issued machine gun like his fellow soldiers. Instead, Rafiqullah hid in a bathroom with it at Camp Qargha, then opened fire from a window when generals came into view, an Afghan official tells the AP. He killed US Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene and wounded about 15 others. NBC News reports that Greene, 55, the highest-ranking US officer killed in hostilities since the Vietnam War, got shot four times in the back.

The 27-year-old Rafiqullah joined the Afghan security forces two years ago but "had never shown any suspicious intentions before," says the network's Afghan source. The AP adds that he came from Paktia province, a district connected to the Taliban and a haven for its allied insurgents. Yesterday’s shooting was one of three so-called "insider attacks," which the Taliban claim proves its powers of infiltration. In Paktia, an Afghan police guard was shot during a firefight with NATO troops. And in Tirin Kot, an Afghan policeman apparently drugged then killed seven fellow officers. (More Taliban stories.)

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