Details unclear on killing of soldier in Afghanistan

FORT DRUM — Fort Drum officials couldn't confirm Monday that Sgt. Aaron M. Smith, a soldier from Manhattan, Kan., based at Fort Drum and killed Friday in Afghanistan, was one of the two U.S. service members killed in an attack Friday by an Afghan police officer on patrol with them.

The only U.S. military deaths reported that day were of two men, killed in the same attack, one of whom later was identified as Sgt. Smith. A Fort Drum press release said he was killed in a joint operation, and a Department of Defense release said the deaths followed an attack by enemy forces using small arms fire.

Sgt. Smith is survived by his mother and father, a Fort Drum spokeswoman said.