Police, Taliban offer differing portrait of suspect in troop deaths

A gunman in an Afghan Border Police uniform who killed six U.S. troops was a reliable officer who had been with the force for three years, a senior official said Wednesday.

But the Taliban claimed that Hezatullah had been a member of the militant group who joined the border police precisely to launch an attack on U.S. forces.

Six U.S. troops died Monday when a gunman opened fired on NATO-led service members, the Pentagon said.

Hezatullah, a 23-year-old who goes by one name, was a trusted member of the border police and had been receiving training from coalition forces, said Aminullah Amarkhil, commander of the border police in eastern Nangarhar province.

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