National Guard shooting 'act of evil,' Trump says; suspect ID'd as Afghan national

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The Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national. According to CNN, the suspect applied for asylum in 2024, which was granted by the Trump administration in April 2025.

Separately, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had stopped processing all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely.

“The protection and safety of our homeland and of the American people remains our singular focus and mission,” the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X.

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‘Targeted shooting’​

Trump was in Florida at the time of the attack, which prompted the White House to go into lockdown as law enforcement from multiple federal and city agencies swarmed the area.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called it “a targeted shooting” by a single assailant.

“That individual has been taken into custody,” she said.

The shooting occurred around 2:15 pm local time, when the two soldiers — a man and a woman — were conducting what authorities described as a “high-visibility patrol”.

According to DC Police Executive Assistant Chief Jeffrey Carroll, the attacker rounded a corner, raised a firearm, and “ambushed these members of the National Guard” without warning.

Both soldiers were struck multiple times and rushed to local trauma centers, where they remain in critical condition. The suspect was also injured during the encounter.

Carroll said investigators were still working to determine whose gunfire wounded him, but confirmed that there were no additional suspects and no ongoing threat.

Senior counterterrorism officials confirmed to ABC News that the FBI was examining the shooting as a possible act of international terrorism, and investigators were looking into whether the attack may have been inspired by a foreign militant group.

Authorities stressed, however, that no motive had been established.

Trump was the first to announce the incident publicly, writing on social media that “the animal that shot the two National Guardsmen” was also severely wounded and would “pay a very steep price”.

He praised the National Guard and federal law-enforcement agencies as “truly great people”.
 
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Following the shooting, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said the president directed him to deploy an additional 500 National Guard troops to Washington “immediately,” saying: “This happened just steps away from the White House. It will not stand.”

A brief security lockdown was also imposed at the White House as the situation unfolded, though Trump was not in the capital at the time.

“The president has been briefed,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Confusion briefly erupted when West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey issued — then retracted — a statement saying the two soldiers had died. His office later said the information was based on “early and conflicting reports”.
 

Unease within Muslim communities​

A relative of Lakanwal’s told NBC News that the suspect had arrived in the US in September 2021, after serving for 10 years in the Afghan army alongside US Special Forces.

According to the relative, Lakanwal spent part of his military service stationed at a base in Kandahar. The relative who spoke to NBC News had also served with him, supporting US troops.

“We were the ones targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” he said. “I cannot believe that he might have done this,” the relative added.

Lakanwal came to the US five months after Biden announced the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

Originally from Khost province, Lakanwal had been living in Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and five children, the relative said.

The attack also triggered unease within Muslim communities.

“We hope this report is incorrect,” a Muslim political commentator, who declined to be named, told Dawn after initial reports about the nationality of the suspect.

“If it turns out to be true, it may trigger a strong backlash against Muslim communities across the United States.”

National Guard personnel from several Republican-led states, including West Virginia, have been deployed in Washington since August, when Trump expanded an earlier mission aimed at combating street crime and supporting immigration enforcement initiatives.

The soldiers shot on Wednesday were part of that deployment.
 
Ali_Baba said:
The Taliban are not the people to do that, any government that says 50% of the population cannot be educated on the pain of death, then they are part of the problem and not part of the solution.
Click to expand...

Right!
And unfortunately, in pockets of Pakistan's northwest, such ideology exists, as we saw plenty of their 'Islam' when they were allowed to rule the Malakand Division / Swat Valley in mid 2000s. And those Soldiers of Islam want more land, want no writ of the Pakistani State to make way for some Talibanistan in Pakistan as well.
Pakistan is not only fighting for its territory, it is also fighting for its survival itself. There should not be any ambiguity about that. No politics for vote bank. No mercy.
 
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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the 29-year-old Afghan national who perpetrated the attack against two members of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C., is now emerging as a far more consequential figure than initially perceived.

Far beyond a routine former serviceman, Lakanwal reportedly belonged to the Afghan National Army Commando Corps , an elite, high-value direct-action formation that routinely executed joint operations with United States Special Operations Forces and was considered the apex of Afghanistan’s counterterrorism capability.

Newly surfaced revelations further complicate the picture.

As reported by Fox News, Lakanwal previously collaborated with multiple U.S. government entities during the Afghanistan campaign.

Most notably, he was allegedly embedded with the CIA-sponsored Kandahar Strike Force, a paramilitary unit better known within intelligence circles as NDS-03.

Operating entirely outside both Afghan and American military chains of command, this unit fell under the exclusive authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and conducted highly sensitive, clandestine counterterrorism and reconnaissance missions.

What elevates the severity of this incident even further are emerging reports suggesting that Lakanwal had recently re-established communication channels with the Taliban.

Several analysts now assess that the attack bears the operational imprint of Al-Qaeda, potentially facilitated, tacitly or otherwise, by Taliban networks.

This convergence of extremist actors highlights a deeply alarming reality: Afghanistan has once again become a permissive ecosystem for transnational terrorist plotting, with ramifications now manifesting on Western soil.


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RocketLaw said:
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🇫🇷 ⚠️ 🚨 Alarming Transnational Threat: Afghan National Linked to TTP/Al-Qaeda Filmed Near French Naval Assets

After the Washington attack carried out by an Afghan national, yet another deeply troubling incident has emerged, this time from France.

A disturbing video circulating on social media shows an Afghan individual linked to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and Al-Qaeda filming himself in front of French naval assets, holding a note that reads: “Pray for us and remember us in your prayers.”

This is not a harmless message, it is a chilling signal.

French authorities must act swiftly and decisively.

Afghanistan, under the rule of the Taliban, has once again become the hub of global terrorism.

With the international community turning a blind eye, this threat is no longer contained, it is spilling directly into the courtyards of Western nations.

The pattern is clear, the danger is real, and the consequences of inaction could be catastrophic.
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yeah just saw that , i mean what were these people expecting to happen . well at least we might get help or world will take ttp more seriously as they have gone global
 
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