Investigators led by the FBI’s joint terrorism task force sought clues on Thursday to what drove an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers mere blocks from the White House in what officials called an “ambush” attack on Thanksgiving eve.

Axar.az informs, citing Reuters, the two soldiers, part of a militarized law enforcement mission ordered by President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by officials of the District of Columbia, were hospitalized in critical condition.

The suspect, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.

According to the DHS, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control of their homeland after the US withdrawal.

The DHS did not include other details of his immigration record, but a Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23 of this year, three months after Trump took office. Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.