Anne Smedinghoff, 25, of Chicago, died in a suicide attack in Zabul Province, Afghanistan
Smedinghoff, a graduate of Johns Hopkins, was on her way to deliver books to a school
Three soldiers and a Defense Department employee were also killed
Initial reports said that the group were in a convoy but survivor now suggests they were on foot and weren't sure where they were going
By Associated Press and Daily Mail Reporters
PUBLISHED: 12:57 EST, 12 April 2013 | UPDATED: 05:40 EST, 13 April 2013
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New details have emerged about the death of a promising young diplomat from Chicago who was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Anne Smedinghoff, 25, died on Saturday with five other Americans in the deadliest day in the war in eight months. It was initially suggested that Smedinghoff was in armed convoy that had just left its headquarters when it was attacked.
It is now being reported that the group was not only on foot, but was also lost on the way to a book-giving ceremony.
An Afghan television reporter who was with Smedinghoff but survived the attack, told McClatchy that the group were walking to what they thought was a school before the blast.
Ahmad Zia Abed, who works for Shamshad TV, was wounded in the attack. He said that the party of around a dozen people was being escorted by U.S. soldiers on the 200-yard walk from the Provincial Reconstruction Team headquarters to the building.
However, according to Abed, as soon as they got to the gate they were informed that it wasn't a school, but the agriculture institute instead.
As reported by McClatchy, the group then began to retrace their steps and work out what they were going to do. It was then that the suicide bomb was detonated.
Abed explained that he was at the head of the group as they were filing back towards the base from the road. He then felt something slam into his back and saw a car wheel roll past.
'At first I thought that a car had left the road and struck me,' Abed told McClatchy. 'But then I turned around and saw it had been a bomb.'
This account contradicts earlier reports that Smedinghoff's group had been traveling in an armored vehicle and raises many questions about the circumstances of this tragic day.
The fact that the group was traveling by foot made it much more vulnerable and the FBI has launched investigations into the attack.
Smedinghoff, 25, is the first member of the Foreign Service killed in the 12-year-old war in Afghanistan. She is also the first American diplomat to die overseas since the consulate attacks in Benghazi, Libya, claimed the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and Sean Smith.
She had been working with schools and businesses to improve the lives of girls and women in the southern province of Zabul.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2308167/Anne-Smedinghoff-Young-U-S-diplomat-killed-Afghanistan-lost-foot-died.html
