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Report: Afghan who killed 9 Americans acted alone

An Afghan pilot who gunned down nine Americans acted alone and was armed with two weapons when he began his rampage, according to a preliminary report, NBC News says.
/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

An Afghan pilot who gunned down nine Americans acted alone and was armed with two weapons when he began his rampage, according to preliminary findings of the shooting investigation, NBC News reported Friday.

Eight U.S. airmen, identified by the Pentagon Friday as NATO trainers, were armed with weapons and ammunition when the Afghan air force colonel began shooting, investigators told NBC News.

The ninth American killed was a retired military man serving as a private contractor.

During the exchange of gunfire, the gunman was severely wounded when he left the room where he killed the Americans, investigators said. He was later found dead in another location inside the building.

Afghan officials said NATO forces killed the attacker, identified as Ahmad Gul Sahebi, 48, from the Tarakhail district of Kabul province. He had served in the Afghan army for decades, they said.

Investigators have found no connection between the shooter and the Taliban, but they have not conclusively ruled out that possibility, NBC news said.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, identifying the assailant as a Taliban militant named Azizullah from a district of Kabul province.

Personal problems
The gunman's brother insisted he was not a Taliban sympathizer.

Sahebi's brother, Dr. Hassan Sahebi, a Kabul neurologist, described his brother as a dedicated soldier who was not affiliated with the Taliban or other insurgents. He said in a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times that his brother had been wounded four or five times in the line of duty, and once was so severely injured in a plane crash that he underwent 22 surgeries.

"My brother was a little depressed recently, but he had served with Afghanistan's national army for 20 years," Sahebi said. Earlier, in a television interview, Sahebi said his brother had recently been forced to sell his home.

"He loved his country and his people," he told The Times. "He was a good man."

Wednesday's attack was the fourth in the past two weeks in which someone wearing an Afghan security-force uniform struck from within a government compound.

The Americans were identified as:

  • Maj. Philip D. Ambard, 44, of Edmonds, Wash. He was assigned to the 460th Space Communications Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colo.
  • Maj. Jeffrey O. Ausborn, 41, of Gadsden, Ala. He was assigned to the 99th Flying Training Squadron, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
  • Maj. David L. Brodeur, 34, of Auburn, Mass. He was assigned to the 11th Air Force, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
  • Master Sgt. Tara R. Brown, 33, of Deltona, Fla. She was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Joint Base Andrews, Md.
  • Lt. Col. Frank D. Bryant Jr., 37, of Knoxville, Tenn. He was assigned to the 56th Operations Group, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.
  • Maj. Raymond G. Estelle II, 40, of New Haven, Conn. He was assigned to Headquarters Air Combat Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.
  • Capt. Nathan J. Nylander, 35, of Hockley, Texas. He was assigned to the 25th Operational Weather Squadron, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.
  • Capt. Charles A. Ransom, 31, of Midlothian, Va. He was assigned to the 83rd Network Operations Squadron, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.
  • James McLaughlin Jr., 55, of Santa Rosa, Calif. He was a civilian contractor who retired as a lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army in 2007 after 25 years of military service, .

War under assessment
While a surge of U.S. troops into Afghanistan has dealt a blow to the Taliban insurgency, total violence has risen since last fall and is likely to keep climbing, the Pentagon said on Friday in a new assessment of the war as it approaches its 10-year mark.

The Pentagon's twice-annual report to the U.S. Congress on the war comes as President Barack Obama plans to begin withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan in July. Only a modest drawdown is expected initially.

The rise in violence in Afghanistan, including roadside bombs, direct fire and other acts, was due in part to the troop surge, stepped-up targeting of insurgent safe havens and mild winter weather, the Pentagon said in its report.

The Pentagon acknowledged that the worst may be ahead, saying violence may peak in the next 12 months as Taliban and other militants seek to regain lost territory.

Officials say the Obama administration's decision to deploy an extra 30,000 soldiers helped push the Taliban from strategic areas of the Afghan south, diminishing the overall insurgent threat almost 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that prompted the war.

The Pentagon report also said Afghan security forces have grown and improved in the past six months but not a single unit is yet able to operate effectively without foreign advisers.

The United States and its allies expect Afghan forces to take over security responsibilities as foreign troops withdraw. President Hamid Karzai has announced a plan to gradually put Afghan forces in security control starting in July.

These Afghan forces continue to struggle with problems of desertion, illiteracy and fighting prowess.

"The situation on the ground is fundamentally changing. This is something that happens day by day, week by week, month by month over the past two years," a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"There's still a lot to do. There are going to be some tough days ahead," the official said.