The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed that a US general was killed in an attack in Afghanistan -- the highest-ranking American fatality since 2001.

The Pentagon on Tuesday confirmed that a US general was killed in an attack in Afghanistan -- the highest-ranking American fatality since 2001.

The US Defense Department also identified the assailant, who was wearing a uniform, as an Afghan soldier and said that he was killed after he opened fire on coalition occupation forces, his supposed allies.

"I can... confirm among the killed was an American general officer," the Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, told reporters.