KABUL (REUTERS) - US Army Brigadier-General Jeffrey Smiley was confirmed as one of two Americans wounded in last Thursday's (Oct 18) attack that killed the police chief of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a spokesman for the Nato-led Resolute Support mission said.

Brig-Gen Smiley, commander of Resolute Support's training and advisory mission in southern Afghanistan, was shot when a member of the provincial governor's bodyguard opened fire on a group of officials leaving a meeting with the top Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.

"I can confirm US Army Brig-Gen Jeffrey Smiley was wounded during a recent insider attack in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province," a spokesman for the Nato-led force said in an e-mailed statement.

Gen Miller was unhurt, but Kandahar police chief General Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan's most prominent anti-Taleban commanders, was fatally wounded along with the local head of the NDS intelligence service, General Abdul Momim.

The attack, which was claimed by the Taleban, was a devastating blow to the government, decapitating the security command of one of Afghanistan's most strategically important provinces and demonstrating the insurgents' ability to strike even top leaders.

Along with Brig-Gen Smiley, one US civilian and a coalition contractor were wounded as the group of officials made their way to a helicopter due to take Gen Miller and his party back to Kabul.