Officials: Suicide bomber kills US aid worker, 3 troops in Afghanistan

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U.S Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

 In a report by CNN, the United States has a condemned a suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan that left four Americans dead, including an aid worker and senior members of an Army brigade.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attack in the Kunar province on Wednesday "that killed USAID Foreign Service Officer Ragaei Abdelfattah, three ISAF service members and an Afghan civilian, and injured a State Department Foreign Service officer."
"On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I have sent my deepest condolences to Ragaei's family and to the entire U.S. Mission in Afghanistan," Clinton said in a written statement late Thursday.

The Department of Defense released few details about the attack, saying only that the three American troops died "of wounds suffered when they encountered an insurgent who detonated a suicide vest."

Killed in the explosion was Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffith, the senior enlisted soldier of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colorado, the Department of Defense said.
Also killed were Army Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, New York, and Air Force Maj. Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Georgia, the Defense Department said.
Troops were also wounded in the attack, said Major Martyn Crighton, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force Joint Command.

Crighton would not release the number of injured but said "all the seriously wounded were evacuated to Germany."

The attack is the latest in a series of high profile strikes against NATO and Afghan officials, and it comes as the United States is reducing its troop strength ahead of an anticipated 2014 hand over of responsibility to Afghan forces.

Kennedy served on the brigade staff, while Gray was a flight commander attached as a liaison to the brigade, according to their respective service records.

Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffith

Griffith, 45, of Laramie, Colorado, was the brigade's senior ranking non-commissioned officer, the Defense Department said.

Griffith, who joined the Army in 1988, participated in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to his service records. He deployed twice more to Iraq, once in 2007 and again in 2009.

He deployed to Afghanistan in March with a headquarters company of the brigade.

Army Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy

Kennedy was commissioned as an officer in 2000. He served two tours in Iraq in 2003 and 2005.

    According to his service record Kennedy deployed   to  Afghanistan on July 18.

Gray was assigned to the 13th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Carson.

An Afghan interpreter was also killed, the State Department said.