WASHINGTON — Insurgents posing as friendly militia members lured a U.S. and Afghan team to a meeting in eastern Afghanistan, triggering a shootout and a coalition airstrike on the compound, the U.S. military said Friday.

U.S. Navy Capt. Tom Gresback said the insurgents baited the team, inviting an Afghan militia leader, a U.S. service member and an interpreter to a security shura meeting Thursday.

Once the meeting was over, the Taliban-linked insurgents opened fire, killing the militia leader and wounding the American service member and the interpreter. The Taliban quickly claimed credit for the attack but overstated the casualties, the U.S. military said.

The Taliban said the attack was carried out by two insurgents disguised as local militiamen. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press the attackers had infiltrated the local force months earlier.

In Afghanistan, local militias are often paid by the U.S. and are partnered with them in operations in remote regions.

Gresback said that after the wounded were moved to safety, a coalition airstrike targeted the compound, killing 10 insurgents.

The mission was in Mohmand Valley, in Afghanistan’s remote Achin district of Nangarhar province.

According to Gresback, local Afghans began moving back to Mohmand Valley earlier last summer after being forced from their homes in 2015 when the Islamic State group affiliate began to take hold in the southeastern portion of Nangarhar.

The U.S.-led coalition, working with the Afghan forces, has waged a persistent campaign against the ISIS group.


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