Six U.S. Troops Dead, Others Wounded in Apparent Suicide Attack in Afghanistan
By Dan Lamothe and Pamela Constable
Washington Post
December 21 at 12:35 PM
The U.S.-led military in Afghanistan suffered one of its worst days in 2015 on Monday, as six U.S. service members were killed and three others were wounded when a motorcycle laden with explosives detonated near them in Parwan province in an apparent suicide attack.
A U.S. military official in Afghanistan confirmed that the troops killed were all Americans. The incident occurred north of Kabul about 1:30 p.m. in a province best known for Bagram air base, a sprawling military complex from which U.S. forces fly F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft. While the U.S. military no longer carries out offensive operations in Afghanistan following the end of its formal combat mission, it patrols around the base daily to protect it against the Taliban and other enemy groups.
Three Afghan police officers also were wounded in the blast, an Afghan official said.
“We’re deeply saddened by this loss,” said Brig. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan. Gen. John Campbell, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and the rest of the military coalition said that “our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of those affected in this tragic incident, especially during this holiday season,” Shoffner added.
The suicide attack near Bagram air base came as Taliban forces in southern Helmand province captured the strategic Sangin district after several days of fierce fighting that left 90 Afghan soldiers dead, officials said.
One day earlier, officials in Helmand had asked President Ashraf Ghani to help prevent the province from falling to the Taliban. The intensifying battles in Helmand, as well as a series of aggressive Taliban attacks in other provinces this month, have reinforced public fears of a nationwide Taliban takeover.
At about 9 p.m. Sunday, the Afghan capital, Kabul, was rocked by at least two loud bomb explosions in the heavily guarded diplomatic zone that also includes NATO military facilities. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but sirens wailed for many minutes afterward and English-language warnings echoed from loudspeakers. One warned people to “seek hard shelter.”
The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan has formally ended. But Afghanistan remains as dangerous as ever. U.S. forces minimize travel by road as much as possible to avoid improvised explosive devices, favoring helicopter travel instead.
But some service members still work off the base, carrying out security patrols, route clearance and other missions. One unit doing so from Bagram is Task Force Buffalo, a U.S. Army-led unit that includes U.S. Marines and soldiers from the United States, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Georgia.
As of Dec. 18, 14 American troops and one civilian had died in Afghanistan while serving with the coalition this year, with five of them killed in combat, according to Pentagon statistics. An additional 68 were wounded in action. The others who died were killed in aircraft crashes and in a handful of incidents the military refers to as “non-hostile,” which usually refer to some sort of accident or a suicide.
Constable reported from Afghanistan.
Dan Lamothe covers national security for The Washington Post and anchors its military blog, Checkpoint.
Pamela Constable covers immigration issues and immigrant communities. A former foreign correspondent for the Post based in Kabul and New Delhi, she also reports periodically from Afghanistan and other trouble spots overseas.
Washington Post
December 21 at 12:35 PM
The U.S.-led military in Afghanistan suffered one of its worst days in 2015 on Monday, as six U.S. service members were killed and three others were wounded when a motorcycle laden with explosives detonated near them in Parwan province in an apparent suicide attack.
A U.S. military official in Afghanistan confirmed that the troops killed were all Americans. The incident occurred north of Kabul about 1:30 p.m. in a province best known for Bagram air base, a sprawling military complex from which U.S. forces fly F-16 fighter jets and other aircraft. While the U.S. military no longer carries out offensive operations in Afghanistan following the end of its formal combat mission, it patrols around the base daily to protect it against the Taliban and other enemy groups.
Three Afghan police officers also were wounded in the blast, an Afghan official said.
“We’re deeply saddened by this loss,” said Brig. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, the top U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan. Gen. John Campbell, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and the rest of the military coalition said that “our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of those affected in this tragic incident, especially during this holiday season,” Shoffner added.
The suicide attack near Bagram air base came as Taliban forces in southern Helmand province captured the strategic Sangin district after several days of fierce fighting that left 90 Afghan soldiers dead, officials said.
One day earlier, officials in Helmand had asked President Ashraf Ghani to help prevent the province from falling to the Taliban. The intensifying battles in Helmand, as well as a series of aggressive Taliban attacks in other provinces this month, have reinforced public fears of a nationwide Taliban takeover.
At about 9 p.m. Sunday, the Afghan capital, Kabul, was rocked by at least two loud bomb explosions in the heavily guarded diplomatic zone that also includes NATO military facilities. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but sirens wailed for many minutes afterward and English-language warnings echoed from loudspeakers. One warned people to “seek hard shelter.”
The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan has formally ended. But Afghanistan remains as dangerous as ever. U.S. forces minimize travel by road as much as possible to avoid improvised explosive devices, favoring helicopter travel instead.
But some service members still work off the base, carrying out security patrols, route clearance and other missions. One unit doing so from Bagram is Task Force Buffalo, a U.S. Army-led unit that includes U.S. Marines and soldiers from the United States, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Georgia.
As of Dec. 18, 14 American troops and one civilian had died in Afghanistan while serving with the coalition this year, with five of them killed in combat, according to Pentagon statistics. An additional 68 were wounded in action. The others who died were killed in aircraft crashes and in a handful of incidents the military refers to as “non-hostile,” which usually refer to some sort of accident or a suicide.
Constable reported from Afghanistan.
Dan Lamothe covers national security for The Washington Post and anchors its military blog, Checkpoint.
Pamela Constable covers immigration issues and immigrant communities. A former foreign correspondent for the Post based in Kabul and New Delhi, she also reports periodically from Afghanistan and other trouble spots overseas.
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