By Courtney Kube, NBC News



http://www.carson.army.mil





CSM Kevin J. Griffin



A senior Army leader was killed and another badly wounded in a suicide bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, a senior U.S. military official told NBC News.








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Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, the most senior enlisted soldier for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was killed and Brigade Commander Col. James J. Mingus was badly wounded.



A U.S. military official said the U.S. troops were on their way to a key leader engagement when a suicide bomber detonated his vest, killing two soldiers, an airman, and wounding Mingus.













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While their names may be not be well known, U.S. officials consider this a significant attack because the brigade leadership taken out by a suicide bomber.



Griffin, 45, of Riverton, Wyo., was a Bronze Star recipient who first enlisted in the Army in 1988.



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Mingus, a highly decorated officer who served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, is a former professor of military science at the University of Tennessee and Commander of the 4th Ranger Training Battalion.



Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, N.Y., was also killed.



Air Force Maj. Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga. was also killed in the attack in Kunar province. His identity had previously been released by the Pentagon.



The soldiers were all assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division based in Colorado Springs, Colo.