New details emerge in killing of US general

The two-star U.S. Army general who was fatally shot by an Afghan soldier in Kabul Tuesday died at the military academy where he was attacked, according to the Army.  

“Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene of Schenectady, New York, died Aug. 5, at Marshal Fahim National Defense University in Kabul City, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when his unit was attacked by small arms fire,” the Army announced Wednesday. 

“Words cannot express the sadness we feel at the senseless loss of Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene,” said Secretary of the Army John McHugh on Wednesday. 

Greene, 55, is the highest-ranking U.S. officer to be killed in combat since 1970, with the exception of a three-star Army general who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. 

Army Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno said Tuesday that the Army would stick to its task in Afghanistan, despite the attack. 

{mosads}”We remain committed to our mission in Afghanistan and will continue to work with our Afghan partners to ensure the safety and security of all coalition soldiers and civilians,” Odierno said. 

He said that other soldiers were injured, but an Army spokesman said a definitive number of the wounded had not been confirmed. There were at least 12 individuals injured, “some more severely than others,” the spokesman said. 

The attacker fired two to three bursts of gunfire from a first-floor bathroom window toward where Greene and others were standing attending a presentation, according to USA Today. He was then killed by Afghan forces. 

The Associated Press reported that the attacker was in his twenties and that his name was Rafiqullah. He had joined the Afghan Army more than two years ago, and came from the country’s eastern Paktia province, the news agency added. The day he killed Greene, he had reportedly just returned from a patrol.

The shooting is under investigation by coalition and Afghan officials, and no motive has been determined yet. 

Greene was serving as the deputy commanding general, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.

“Maj. Gen. Greene was a soldier, a scholar and, above all, a trusted professional leader. A leader who served a noble cause and sacrificed of himself so that others might live in peace and prosperity” McHugh said.