Update: At least eight U.S. casualties (2 KIA and 6 WIA). One KIA is a Green Beret and the other an enabler. The WIAs include senior members of the ODA and Company. Most of the WIA have gunshot wounds to the legs, but at least one was shot in the face and is in critical condition. Read the complete update here.
A Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) was ambushed in Afghanistan, resulting in multiple casualties.
It appears that at least two American commandos have been killed and several wounded — unconfirmed reports put the number to four Wounded in Action (WIA). Emerging reports indicate that the SF team was ambushed by its partner Afghan National Army (ANA) force (a Green-on-Blue incident). Sources familiar with the incident told SOFREP that it was a 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) ODA.
Colonel Sonny Leggett, the spokesperson for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A), stated that “a combined U.S. and Afghan force conducting an operation in Nangarhar Province was engaged by direct fire on Feb. 8. We are assessing the situation & will provide further updates as they become available.”
The ambush took place in the Sherzad district in eastern Afghanistan.
Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), the main intelligence agency of Afghanistan and an equivalent to the CIA, have been quite active in Nangarhar in recent months, going after insurgency leaders.
On a separate statement, the Afghan Ministry of Defence said that five Taliban insurgents, including a local Taliban commander, were killed in airstrikes conducted by the Afghan Air Force (AAF) in the Gardi-Turghar area of Surkhrod district in Nangarhar. It is not yet clear if the airstrikes were in support of the joint American-Afghan ground force.
Nangarhar Province has been one of the battlegrounds in the country between the Taliban and the Islamic State (ISIS).
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.
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