Shooter in Afghanistan Insider Attack Is an Iranian National, Official Says
Shooter in Afghanistan Insider Attack Is an Iranian National, Official Says
The female police officer who killed a U.S. contractor in Kabul on Monday is an Iranian national, an Afghan government official said Tuesday.
Sediq Seddiqi, an Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman, said the Afghan police officer is an Iranian citizen who met her Afghan husband in Iran. After they eventually went to live in Afghanistan, he managed to help her illegally obtain Afghan citizenship.
The United States has long been concerned about Iranian terror-related activity against U.S. targets. But Seddiqi said he doesn’t have evidence to link the attacker to militant groups carrying out acts of terror. She was arrested and was questioned, he said.
It was the latest in a number of so-called insider attacks by Afghan soldiers and police officers, or attackers dressed like them. More than 50 people have been killed in Afghanistan in similar attacks this year, which the Afghan government calls acts of terrorism.