Suspected Russia bounty operation possibly connected to bombing that killed 3 US Marines, report says

• A US intelligence investigation into whether a secret Russian military-intelligence unit paid out bounties to militants in Afghanistan partly concentrated on a bombing that killed three US Marines, The New York Times reported.
• Some officials reportedly maintained that the intelligence was not concrete.
• Two of the Marines were scheduled to come back to the US less than two weeks after the bombing.

A US intelligence investigation into whether a secret Russian military-intelligence unit paid out bounties to militants in Afghanistan partly concentrated on a bombing that killed three US Marines, according to officials cited in a New York Times report published Monday.

Some officials reportedly maintained that the intelligence was not concrete — The Times reported that officials were in disagreement about the veracity of the evidence from the vehicle bombing and its connection to the Russians.

In April 2019, three US Marines were killed when a vehicle with explosives struck a military convoy near Bagram Airfield, a major base in Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman of Delaware, Cpl. Robert Hendriks of New York, and Sgt. Benjamin Hines of Pennsylvania were assigned to the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, when they were killed in the bombing.

Two of the Marines deployed in October 2018 and were scheduled to come back to the US in less than two weeks, according to a previous Stars & Stripes report.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The latest report comes days after The Times first reported that US intelligence officials assessed that Russian military intelligence paid bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill NATO troops in Afghanistan. Since The Times' first report on Friday, several other news organizations have confirmed the intelligence assessment.

US officials discovered information about the bounties through interrogations of militants and criminals earlier this year. Some of the bounty money was collected by either Islamic militants or those associated with them, The Times reported.

The intelligence officials reportedly believed the bounties involve Unit 29155, a branch of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency. Unit 29155, which is believed to be made up of former Russian special-forces troops, has been blamed for a series of assassination attempts throughout Europe, including the poisoning of the Russian defector Sergei Skripal in 2018.

The White House and President Donald Trump have offered shifting explanations and criticized the leaking of classified information. Trump said he was recently told by an intelligence agency that "they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me" or Vice President Mike Pence.

"Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad," Trump tweeted on Sunday evening.

But several news organizations, including The Times, have reported that the intelligence assessment was included in Trump's daily intelligence report as early as February.

The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, on Monday did not deny the existence of the intelligence report but added that Trump "was not personally briefed on the matter."

The national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, said in a statement that Trump was not briefed on the matter because it was not verified or substantiated by the intelligence community. The Defense Department also released a statement Monday saying it "continues to evaluate intelligence" but had "no corroborating evidence to validate the recent allegations."

A select group of Republican lawmakers was briefed on the intelligence report on Monday. In a joint statement, Reps. Michael McCaul of Texas and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said "it is important to let this review take place before any retaliatory actions are taken" and urged patience as Congress and the intelligence agencies looked into the matter.

"There are already those who are politicizing this issue, however, we cannot let politics overshadow a truth that Republicans and Democrats alike can agree on: the Putin regime cannot be trusted," the two Republicans added. "If the intelligence review process verifies the reports, we strongly encourage the Administration to take swift and serious action to hold the Putin regime accountable."

Several House Democrats were scheduled to receive a similar intelligence briefing at the White House on Tuesday.