WASHINGTON (AP) — An Afghan air force officer who shot to death eight U.S. airmen and one American civilian in Kabul last April had plotted his attack in advance and had previously vowed to "kill Americans," according to a U.S. Air Force investigative report released Tuesday.
The 436-page report by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations determined that Col. Ahmed Gul acted alone, but it found no conclusive motive for the deadly shooting spree at Kabul International Airport.
Investigators cited evidence that Gul had financial and other personal problems, and that he may have had Taliban sympathies. But they could not establish with certainty why, at a planned meeting with American trainers and mentors, Gul pulled a black 9 mm pistol from a waist holster and opened fire.
The report described a chaotic scene as word spread incorrectly that there was a suicide bomber in the building, which served as the command control center for the Afghan air force. A number of people jumped from a window to escape.
Gul died of self-inflicted wounds.
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Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
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