Pentagon IDs soldiers killed in apparent insider attack in Afghanistan

[Boats]

Pentagon IDs soldiers killed in apparent insider attack in Afghanistan
BY REBECCA KHEEL - 06/12/17 10:15 AM EDT
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/33...in-afghanistan


The Pentagon has identified the three U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Sgt. Eric M. Houck, 25, of Baltimore, Sgt. William M. Bays, 29, of Barstow, Calif. and Cpl. Dillon C. Baldridge, 22, of Youngsville, N.C. were killed Saturday by gunfire in Peka Valley in Nangarhar Province, the Pentagon said in a statement Monday.

The U.S. military has so far released scant details of the incident, but Afghan officials have told reporters the soldiers were killed in an apparent insider attack by an Afghan soldier.

A fourth U.S. soldier was wounded.

The attack happened as U.S. and Afghan forces were conducting a mission against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) Afghan branch, according to Afghan officials.

The Taliban said one its members infiltrated the unit with the intent to carry out the attack, but Afghan officials have cast doubt on that claim.

In its Monday statement, the Pentagon said the incident is under investigation.

The deaths, the fourth, fifth and sixth U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan this year, come as President Trump weighs a Pentagon request to send thousands more troops to the country.

U.S. military officers have requested 3,000 to 5,000 more troops to break what they have described as a stalemate against the Taliban.

The United States currently has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan on a dual mission of training, advising and assisting Afghan troops in their fight against the Taliban and conducting counterterrorism missions against groups such as ISIS and al Qaeda.

All six U.S. deaths this year have come during missions against ISIS, which was also the target of a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb dropped by the U.S. in April.

In April, Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar was killed during a firefight with enemy forces. Later that month, Sgt. Joshua P. Rodgers and Sgt. Cameron H. Thomas were killed in what’s suspected to have been a friendly fire incident.

(Personal note: I hate the verbiage "friendly fire inciden" - this should never have happened!)