US News

US envoy slain

Anne Smedinghoff

Anne Smedinghoff

Christopher Stevens

Christopher Stevens

SHE GAVE ALL: Anne Smedinghoff was killed by a suicide bomb Saturday in Afghanistan, the first US diplomatic death since Libya Ambassador Christopher Stevens (inset) and members of his staff last fall. (
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A promising young diplomat was among six Americans killed in a bloody wave of violence in Afghanistan Saturday — the highest single-day death toll for US citizens since July, officials said.

State Department staffer Anne Smedinghoff, 25, of Chicago, was one of five Americans slain when a suicide bomber attacked a military convoy in southern Afghanistan’s Zabul province that was on its way to deliver books to a school.

Smedinghoff began her Afghanistan assignment last year and had organized a high-profile trip for Secretary of State John Kerry just last month.

The rising diplomat “tragically gave her young life working to give young Afghans the opportunity to have a better future,” Kerry said at a press conference in Turkey yesterday. “We know too well the risks in the world today for all of our State Department personnel at home and around the world.

“A brave American was determined to brighten the light of learning through books, written in the native tongue of the students she had never met, whom she felt it incumbent to help,” he said.

Smedinghoff’s parents, Mary Beth and Tom, said they drew comfort in knowing that their daughter died pursuing her passion.

“We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world,” they said in a statement.

“She was such a wonderful woman — strong, intelligent, independent and loving. Annie, you left us too soon; we love you and we’re going to miss you so much.”

Smedinghoff was the first US diplomat killed since the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September that claimed the life of Ambassador Christopher Stevens. She first worked in Venezuela before her assignment in Afghanistan, her parents said.

“Working as a public diplomacy officer, she particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war,” they said.

The Taliban, through a spokesman, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

An unidentified American civilian worker was killed in a separate gun battle Saturday, officials said.

Saturday’s violence claimed the most American lives in a single day since six US soldiers died last July in an insurgent attack in Wardak province.

The latest deaths brought the toll of foreign military troops killed in Afghanistan this year to 30, including 22 Americans.

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