A civilian working for the U.S. military was found alive after he was reported to have been killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan, an American military official told NBC News on Tuesday.
The unidentified Afghan man was wounded in an attack that killed three U.S. service members outside the Bagram Airfield 25 miles north of Kabul.
The victim was riding in the military vehicle with at least four American servicemembers when the roadside bomb detonated, the official said. Coalition forces released a statement on Monday saying the man was killed in the attack.
But the official told NBC News that the contractor was later determined to have fallen in with a group of civilians in the chaos after the explosion. He was later found near the scene receiving treatment for his wounds, the official said.
Three other U.S. servicemembers were wounded in the attack. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, which took place amid peace talks between the Trump administration and the extremist Islamist group.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan until they were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition following the 9/11 terror attacks. They now operate as an insurgent force with control over large swaths of the country.
The U.S. is seeking to wind down its 17-year-old war in Afghanistan and withdraw the roughly 14,000 American troops deployed there.
