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AP: Local Airman Killed In Afghanistan Suicide Attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the American troops killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan was a 30-year-old Air Force investigator who hoped to join his family in the restaurant business after leaving the military, his mother said Tuesday.

Arlene Wagner told The Associated Press that her son, Staff Sgt. Peter Taub, was one of six Americans killed in the attack near Bagram Airfield on Monday. She said she was informed of his death on Monday night.

Taub worked for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, his mother said. He leaves behind his pregnant wife and a 3-year-old daughter.

Wagner and Taub's brother, Jonathan, a chef, run a popular sandwich shop, Bub and Pops, in downtown Washington. The shop posted messages saying it would be closed this week because of Taub's death.

Taub was deployed to Afghanistan in October. He grew up in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.

"He and his brother had plans for a farm and raising herbs and different things for expanding the restaurant or new concepts — lots of things that are not going to happen," Wagner said in a brief interview.

She said she was heartbroken for the other five families who lost loved ones in the attack, which was the deadliest on international forces since August.

"I'm pretty devastated," she added. "It's really hard to talk about."

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into a joint NATO-Afghan patrol.

Also among those killed was a New York City police detective, Joseph Lemm.

In a statement, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter called the attack "a painful reminder of the dangers our troops face every day in Afghanistan."

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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