By John Bowden | The Hill |
Brent Taylor, who temporarily stepped down as North Ogden mayor to deploy to Afghanistan with the Utah Army National Guard, died in Afghanistan Saturday, North Ogden City Councilman Phillip Swanson. ???Major Brent Taylor was killed in Afghanistan this morning. A news conference will be held tomorrow morning. Please keep Jennie and his children in your prayers,??? Swanson posted to Facebook.
???Initial reports indicate the attacker was a member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. These reports also indicate the attacker was immediately killed by other Afghan Forces. The incident is under investigation,??? the Utah National Guard said in a statement.
Taylor graduated from Brigham Young University in 2006 with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Military Science, and in 2012 from the University of Utah with a Master of Public Administration, according to his biography on the city website. He served for 12 years as an officer in the United States Army National Guard, including seven years on Active Duty. He served two tours of duty in the Iraq War and one in Afghanistan, serving in Iraq as a convoy security commander and then as an advisor to an Iraqi national intelligence agency, his biography states.
The mayor of North Ogden, Utah was killed Saturday on duty in Afghanistan as part of Utah’s National Guard.
Brent Taylor was killed Saturday in an “insider attack” in Kabul, according to a statement from the Utah National Guard to Fox 13 Salt Lake City, while the terrorist responsible was immediately killed by Afghan forces.
“These reports also indicate the attacker was immediately killed by other Afghan Forces,” the statement said. “The incident is under investigation.”
The attacker was reportedly posing as a member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, which U.S. officials have hoped can take over battling terror groups in the region in the coming years.
Taylor had temporarily stepped down as North Ogden’s mayor during his deployment, which began in January of this year. The Fox affiliate reported that Taylor had been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times in the past.
“Things are going great, and I absolutely love the dedicated US and Afghan soldiers I serve with every day,” Taylor wrote in an update about his deployment earlier this year.
Taylor was killed just two weeks after another U.S. service member, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Smiley, was wounded in an “apparent insider attack” in Afghanistan.
Two Afghan officials were also killed in that attack, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, according to CNN.
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