Pentagon IDs Americans killed in Kabul

The Pentagon has identified two Americans killed in an attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul earlier this week.

{mosads}Sgt. Douglas J. Riney, 26, and Michael G. Sauro, 40, died of wounds received from “encountering hostile enemy forces,” the Pentagon said in a statement late Thursday.

Riney was from Fairview, Ill., and was assigned to the Support Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Sauro was from McAlester, Okla., and was assigned to the Defense Ammunition Center at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.

The two died in an attack Wednesday that also wounded another U.S. service member and two other U.S. civilians.

Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the Resolute Support mission, said Friday that a team of U.S. advisors had been sent to inspect an ammunition supply point at the edge of an Afghan base.

As the team approached, they were fired on by a shooter, he said.

“The incident was over relatively soon,” he said at a briefing Friday.

The shooter was later found dead wearing an Afghan military uniform, Cleveland said.

The investigation into the attack, including identifying the shooter, is ongoing, he said.

“Obviously the investigation is seeking to confirm whether or not this qualifies officially as an insider attack or ‘a green on blue,’ because we do not yet have the identity of the shooter,” Cleveland said. “And that’s something that will come about with the investigation.”

— Updated at 1:46 p.m.