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Dempsey unhurt in Afghan attack

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Published: Aug. 21, 2012 at 10:16 AM

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department confirmed Tuesday that two servicemen were wounded when a rocket damaged Army Gen. Martin Dempsey's C-17 aircraft in Afghanistan.

Two rockets were fired on the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, slightly wounding two Air Force servicemen and damaging the C-17 aircraft designated for transporting Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Defense Department said Dempsey wasn't in danger and there was nothing to suggest he was the target of the attack.

The incident comes as U.S. military leaders expressed concern about the rise in the number of so-called green-on-blue attacks, where Afghan forces turn their weapons on their U.S. counterparts.

Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said insurgent groups like the Taliban weren't necessarily to blame for the new attacks, though the group may be looking for new ways to fight coalition forces.

"They (the Taliban) will not have safe harbor as long as American forces are in Afghanistan," he said. "And they are lashing out in certain ways. They are adapting and we're prepared for whatever they may bring to the fight."

Topics: Martin Dempsey
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