U.S. politicians and media are reporting that the service member killed in an apparent insider attack in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, was the 39-year-old mayor of a city in the state of Utah.
The Salt Lake Tribune and other media reported on Nov. 3, 2018, that North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor was serving with the National Guard when he was killed earlier in the day.
U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and the state’s lieutenant governor, Spencer Cox, confirmed Taylor’s death.
“Devastating news. North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor was killed today while serving in Afghanistan,” Cox wrote on his Facebook page.
“I hate this. I’m struggling for words….This war has once again cost us the best blood of a generation. We must rally around his family,” he added.
North Ogden is a city of 17,000 people north of Salt Lake City.
Taylor was deployed to Afghanistan in January 2018 with the Utah National Guard. At the time, he told local media he would serve as an adviser to an Afghan commando battalion.
A statement from the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan said another U.S. service member was wounded in the attack.
The assailant was a member of the Afghan security forces who was immediately killed by other Afghan forces, the statement said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the “green-on-blue” attack — in which Afghan forces turn their weapons on international soldiers with whom they are working.
This article originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Follow @RFERL on Twitter.
