• Lawsuit: U.S. soldier killed by Afghan security employee who made threats

    By Lolita Lopez, NBCLosAngeles.com

    Rudy Acosta was just weeks away from coming home to Santa Clarita from his deployment overseas when he and a group of unarmed soldiers were ambushed. Two soldiers died and three others were injured.

    That's according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his parents in July.

    Pfc. Acosta was 19 when he was killed in March 2011 inside a secure area of the Forward Operating Base Frontenac in Afghanistan.

    Read the original story on NBCLosAngeles.com.


    The combat medic was shot to death on base by an Afghan national hired to protect the military -- a man who had previously allegedly threatened to kill U.S. troops, according to the lawsuit filed by Dante and Carolyn Acosta in federal court.

    "We lost our oldest son. We lost a bright, funny, charismatic 19-year-old young man with a bright future. He wanted to be a surgeon," Dante Acosta, Rudy's father, said.

    The Acostas are suing the private security company, Tundra Group, based in Canada, saying that the firm rehired Shir Ahmed after previously firing him for making the threats.

    According to the lawsuit, Ahmed was hired in May 2010 and fired in July of the same year after making statements about killing U.S. personnel. Tundra recommended he not be rehired but the recommendation never entered his file and Ahmed was rehired in March 2011, the lawsuit claims.

    What's leading Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?

    The Acostas' Los Angeles attorney, Stuart Fraenkel, said Ahmed was given body armor and a loaded AK-47 weapon.

    The lawsuit states that Tundra entered into an agreement with the American government in November 2009 to "among other things, screen, evaluate and monitor private security guards at nine military installations, including FOB Frontenac. The agreement required Tundra perform ordinary and necessary safety precautions to protect the men and women, living, working and servicing at FOB Frontenac."

    "They have customs, practices, procedures, protocols in place to prevent this kind of a problem from happening and they didn't follow them," said Fraenkel, who is also representing three others injured in the attack.

    The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified punitive damages.

    The incident is among those considered by the government as "green on blue" or "insider" attacks, which have been a major focus in Afghanistan this summer. The attacks occur when members of the Afghan National Security Forces turn their guns on coalition members.

    Panetta intervenes after 10th US service member killed in 2 weeks in Afghanistan

    According to a U.S. Department of Defense spokesman, there have been three such incidents involving private security contractors.

    There have also been 32 other green-on-blue attacks so far this year -- 11 more than all of 2011 -- the Defense Department spokesman said in an email. Since 2007, there have been a total of 73 "insider" attacks resulting in dozens of deaths and over 100 U.S. personnel injured.

    Just in the month of August 2012, there have been 10 insider attacks that killed 10 Americans, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

    That is in part why the Acostas vow to continue their fight.

    "They need to be held accountable, or this could happen again," Carolyn Acosta said.

    The Acostas say Tundra has not contacted them since their son's death. Tundra did not respond to NBC4's request for comment.

    The House Armed Services Committee, led by Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., held two hearings on "insider" attacks, including one specifically about Rudy Acosta in February.

    Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., sent a letter to McKeon asking for another hearing on insider attacks, or "at the very least request a briefing by the proper Department of Defense officials." No hearing has been scheduled at this time.

    On Thursday, a top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said that the recent rise in insider killings can be attributed in part to stress on Afghan forces from fasting during the just-ended Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Associated Press reported.

    But that doesn't explain what happened in Acosta's killing.

    Since his death, procedures for U.S. troops in Afghanistan have changed. Troops have now been ordered to carry their weapons loaded at all times to counter any such attacks.

    US forces in Afghanistan ordered to keep weapons loaded at all times

    Fraenkel said he believes Tundra continues to perform services for the U.S. government.

    The lawsuit states that Rudy Acosta had plans to get married and attend medical school when his service was complete.

    This story originally appeared on NBCLosAngeles.

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  • Three US special ops troops killed, Afghan officials say

    Three Marines were killed instantly, and the fourth was seriously wounded but the gunman escaped. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Updated at 12:35 p.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot and killed three American Marines, the U.S. military command said Friday. Afghan officials said the victims were American special operations forces troops.

    Reuters reported that an Afghan police commander opened fire on the service members after inviting them to a meeting to discuss security. A U.S. military official confirmed the three deaths and said another service member had been injured during the incident.

    NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski reported that a "lone gunman" remained on the loose and was being hunted. U.S. military officials said all of the American victims were Marines.

    Citing Afghan officials, Reuters said the American special operations forces members were killed late Thursday while attending a meeting in the Sarwan Qala area, in what appeared to be a planned attack by rogue Afghan forces.

    "The commander was Afghan National Police in charge of local police in Sangin," a senior Afghan official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Sangin is a district of Helmand province.

    "It looks like he had drawn up a plan to kill them previously," the official added.

    A military official told NBC News' Courtney Kube that it was unclear whether the gunman was a member of the Afghan security forces or whether he was just wearing a uniform.

    Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone that the attacker, whom he identified as a member of Helmand police named Asadullah, had been helping U.S. forces train Afghan local police troops. However, the Taliban has made false claims about the details of attacks in the past.

    A U.S. military official says three American service members were killed and one was wounded after a gunman opened fire on them. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.


    The attack is the third killing this week of coalition soldiers by Afghans who are training to take over responsibility for security once most international forces leave in 2014.

    So-called "green on blue" shootings, in which Afghan police or soldiers turn their guns on their Western mentors, have seriously eroded trust between the allies.

    According to NATO, there have been 24 such attacks on foreign troops since January in which 28 people have been killed. Last year, there were 21 attacks in which 35 people were killed.

    Senior Army leader slain
    Earlier, the Pentagon confirmed that three U.S. service members -- including a senior Army leader -- and an American aid worker were killed Wednesday by a suicide bomber in Kunar province.

    The victims included Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, the most senior enlisted soldier for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Griffin, 45, of Riverton, Wyo., was a Bronze Star recipient who first enlisted in the Army in 1988.

    Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, N.Y., and Air Force Maj. Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga., were also killed. USAID foreign service officer Ragaei Abdelfattah was identified as the other victim.

    On Tuesday, two gunmen wearing Afghan army uniforms killed a U.S. soldier and wounded two others in Paktia province in the east.

    And on Thursday, two Afghan soldiers tried to gun down a group of NATO troops outside a military base in eastern Afghanistan. No international forces were killed, but one of the attackers was killed as NATO forces shot back.

    NBC News' Courtney Kube, Jim Miklaszewski and Atia Abawi, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Ahmad Jamshid / AP

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

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