Aug. 5, 2014: This image provided by the U.S. Army shows Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene. A U.S. official has identified the senior officer killed in Afghanistan, as Greene, the highest-ranking American officer killed in combat since 1970. Greene was the deputy commanding general, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan. An engineer by training, Greene was involved in preparing Afghan forces for the time when U.S.-coalition troops leave at the end of this year.AP/US Army

KABUL, Afghanistan –  The Afghan soldier who killed a U.S. two-star general and wounded other top officers hid in a bathroom before his assault and used a NATO assault rifle in his attack, an Afghan military official said Wednesday.

The investigation into the killing of Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, the highest-ranked U.S. officer to be slain in combat since 1970 in the Vietnam War, focused on the Afghan soldier, who went by the single name Rafiqullah, the official said. The shooting wounded about 15 people, including a German general and two Afghan generals, before Rafiqullah was killed, the official told The Associated Press.

However, Rafiqullah’s motive for the attack remained unclear Wednesday as American officials prepared to fly Greene’s body back to the U.S. and a similar attack saw an Afghan police officer drug and shoot dead seven of his colleagues, authorities said.

Rafiqullah, in his early 20s, had joined the Afghan army more than two years ago and came from the country’s eastern Paktia province, the Afghan official said. On Tuesday, Rafiqullah had just returned from a patrol around the greater Camp Qargha, west of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The official said it appeared others on patrol with Rafiqullah had turned in their NATO-issued assault rifles on arrival, but Rafiqullah kept his and hid in a bathroom. Rafiqullah opened fire when the generals walked into view, the official said.

The Afghan official spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

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