Afghan probe into attack on journalists begins

Last week, an Afghan army officer, Naqibullah, stuck the barrel of his AK47 in the window of an automobile, shouted Allah Akbar, pulled the trigger and killed AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounded senior correspondent Kathy Gannon. Then Naqibullah surrendered to authorities. When asked why he did it, Naqibullah initially responded “I don’t know”, then later said it was revenge for some airstrike that the government says killed 4 Taliban leaders and 12 civilians, then he said it was because of some cleric’s call for a holy war against foreigners in Afghanistan – so you get a multiple choice answer. But the good news is that the Afghan government isn’t jumping to conclusions, as they normally would if it was Afghans being killed.

From the Associated Press;

But the Afghan Interior Ministry, which is overseeing the investigation, told the AP it won’t speculate about a motive so early in its probe into the attack….

Naqibullah was armed with only a pistol on Friday but demanded a subordinate give him an AK-47 automatic rifle, which he used to open fire on the journalists, according to regional officials.

Past insider killings have raised concern about the infiltration of the Taliban and allied militants in the government security forces, although other motives have ranged from personal disputes to traumatic stress.

Well, at least the government is keeping their wits about them in regards to this case, not like when Afghans get killed and they start throwing fingers at Americans and dragging bodies in front of the cameras.

Category: Terror War