Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- A translator from Minnesota was killed in a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, her family said Saturday.
Jamie Michalsky, 23, was working in Uzbekistan, but was in Afghanistan to see a doctor about a hand injury, according to her step-father, Dan Eversgn.
Everson said the family learned of Michalsky's death Saturday morning from the company she worked for, Worldwide Language Resources, a Maine-based company that provides translators. A NATO spokesman said only that a foreign woman was injured, and police had no word on any foreign woman being among the injured.
No one from the translating company returned phone messages left Saturday by the Associated Press.
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Michalsky grew up with her grandmother in Cokato, attended college, then joined the Army Reserves. She was working as a police officer in Texas before being called up for active duty, and served for about a year in Afghanistan, until late last year, Everson said.
Michalsky, who learned Russian in the Army, was released from the service to get the translating job in Uzbekistan, Everson said.
Everson said she had injured her hand in a car accident about a month ago. She was unhappy with her medical care in Uzbekistan, so she went to a doctor she knew in Kandahar, Afghanistan. There, she met some friends from the service and they decided to go on a shopping trip in Kabul, he said.
The blast happened on Kabul's Chicken Street, a bustling shopping street popular with foreigners. Officials said the suicide attacker set off grenades, killing himself and wounding several others, including three NATO soldiers. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the assault.
