National Guard member dies as attack in US capital becomes political flashpoint

A National Guard member died on Thursday after being shot near the White House in an ambush that investigators say was carried out by an Afghan national, an attack US President Donald Trump blamed on Biden-era immigration vetting failures as he ordered a sweeping review of asylum cases.

Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds and her fellow guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, is “fighting for his life”, President Trump said, as investigators conducted what officials said was a terrorism probe after Wednesday's shooting.

The FBI searched multiple properties in a widening investigation, including a home in Washington state linked to the suspect, who officials said was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan before he came to the US in 2021 under a resettlement programme.

Agents seized numerous electronic devices from the residence of the suspect, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, including mobile phones, laptops and iPads, and interviewed his relatives, FBI director Kash Patel said at a news conference.

Trump-appointed US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the suspect drove cross-country and then ambushed the National Guard members while they were patrolling near the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

“I want to express the anguish and the horror of our entire nation about the terrorist attack in our nation's capital, in which a savage monster gunned down two service members in the West Virginia National Guard, who were deployed as part of the DC Task Force,” Mr Trump said in a Thanksgiving call with US military service members.

Casting blame on the administration of his White House predecessor, President Joe Biden, Mr Trump said the alleged gunman, who he described as having gone “cuckoo”, was among thousands of Afghans who came in unvetted as the US carried out a chaotic withdrawal in 2021. He provided no evidence to support his assertion.

President Trump said the suspect's “atrocity reminds us that we have no greater national security priority than ensuring we have full control over the people who enter and remain in our country”.

Armed with a powerful revolver, a .357 Magnum, the gunman shot the two National Gu