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Three US Soldiers Killed During Afghan Insider Attack

(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Steven Hitchcock)

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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Three U.S. Army Rangers were killed Saturday during an insider attack by an Afghan National Security Forces soldier, U.S. officials now say.

Afghan officials said Saturday two U.S. soldiers appeared to have been killed with an additional two wounded. Insider attacks have long been a hallmark of the U.S. experience in Afghanistan.

The shooting occurred in an Islamic State-infested district in eastern Afghanistan where the U.S. is actively engaged in operations against the nascent terrorist group. The U.S. is partnered with the Afghan National Security Forces in the fight against ISIS and the Taliban insurgent movement in the rest of the country.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack saying “A Mujahid (freedom fighter) infiltrator of the Islamic Emirate who had enrolled himself in the Kabul government’s army attacked American soldiers in Lata Band area of Achin district in Nangarhar province today in the afternoon.”

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in the Achin district in late April by possible friendly fire after an intense raid by Army Rangers on ISIS’s Afghan affiliate’s headquarters.

A White House spokesman told the traveling press pool Saturday that President Donald Trump “is following the emerging situation in Afghanistan,” adding that a National Security Council staffer was on site in New Jersey to brief the president.

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