Utah mayor identified as service member killed in Afghan 'insider attack'
The mayor of a small city in the US state of Utah has been identified as the US service member killed Saturday in an “insider attack” in Afghanistan, according to reports.
Brent Taylor, a married father of seven children who was deployed to Afghanistan in January, was a mayor of North Ogden. He was elected to the city council in 2009 and became mayor in 2013, according to the city council website.
Taylor’s death was confirmed by North Ogden City Councilman Phil Swanson.
"We are devastated by the loss of our Mayor and friend, Brent Taylor," the city said on its Facebook page.
"Brent had a profound influence on this community. He was the best of men with the ability to see potential and possibility in everything around him."
Taylor had temporarily stepped down as mayor to deploy to Afghanistan with the Utah Army National Guard, according to his biography on North Ogden's website.
He served as an officer in the US Army National Guard for 12 years, including seven years on active duty. Taylor had been deployed to Iraq twice and was on his second tour to Afghanistan when he was killed.
Reports indicated the attacker was a member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, who was immediately killed by Afghan soldiers.
The deadly incident was the latest in a series of “green-on-blue” attacks in which members of the Afghan army have killed American or coalition advisers since January.
Last month, a NATO-led Czech soldier was killed in the western province of Herat.
The US, along with a number of fellow-NATO members, invaded Afghanistan in 2001, toppling a Taliban regime in control of most of the country at the time, but it has failed to restore security in the country plagued by militancy and terrorism.
A Pentagon watchdog reported on Wednesday that the US was losing more ground to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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