Five British soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Updated on 04 November 2009
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the death of five British soldiers shot dead by an Afghan policeman at a Helmand checkpoint. The soldiers, from the Grenadier Guards and the Royal Military Police, had been mentoring Afghan National Police.
In a statement the MoD said that three soldiers from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police were killed when an Afghan policeman opened fire at a checkpoint in Afghanistan's Nad-e'Ali District yesterday. Three Afghans also died in the shooting.
The soldiers had been living with the Afghan National Police while mentoring them at the checkpoint. Lt Col David Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said that the "rogue" individual who carried out the attack was from the Afghan security forces. It is reported that the killer has since escaped.
"An Afghan national policeman from the checkpoint started firing without warning before anyone could really respond," the defence spokesman said.
"Every effort is being put into hunting him down."
Several other wounded men were flown to the British headquarters at Camp Bastion along with the casualties.
The families of the soldiers have been informed.
The deaths bring the total toll of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 229. Britain's Armed Forces have suffered the bloodiest year of action since the Falklands War.
Channel 4 News correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Kabul, said: "As far as the British army will say for now at 15:15 yesterday British troops and Afghan police were in a debrief after a foot patrol.
"They live together in a compound near a checkpoint in Shin Kalay, that's 400 metres from the British base in Nad-e-Ali.
"Fourteen British soldiers protect two British police mentors, who teach 15 Afghan police. There were no barriers, we understand, between the Brits and Afghans – they lived side by side, part of the Nato bid to win the trust of the Afghan men they fight alongside, and hope to leave the fighting to.
"No-one knows why, but one of the Afghan police opened fire. He is said to have taken everyone by surprise and then fled.
"As the investigation continues a serious question remains: what will this do to the confidence of British troops working in that area?
"The last thing Nato strategy needs at this delicate moment of reassessment is a broad wave of distrust sweeping Nato troops towards their Afghan counterparts."
Read Nick's blog in full here.
Speaking in the Commons Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the Taliban had claimed responsibility for the "terrible and tragic loss" and admitted that militants may have infiltrated the Afghan police.
The prime minister vowed to "step up" security for British troops and said that the training of Afghan police remained an "essential element" of the strategy.
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth expressed his "deepest condolences" to the families of the soldiers killed and stressed the importance of their role in Afghanistan.
"We owe it to them to show the resolve that they exhibit every day in building security and stability in Afghanistan and protecting the UK from the threat of terrorism," he said.
"Change Afghan strategy"
The news came as a former Foreign Office minister broke with government policy on Afghanistan by calling for the phased withdrawal of the bulk of Britain's military force.
Kim Howells, who now chairs the Intelligence and Security Committee, said that the money spent in the fight against the Taliban would be better spent on police and security measures to prevent al-Qaida terror attacks in Britain.
On the frontline with the Afghan army
In August Channel 4 News broadcast a unique insight into life on the frontline for British troops and their colleagues in the Afghan National Army.
Guardian photographer Sean Smith spent time filming British forces during Operation Panther's Claw - an assault aimed at driving the Taliban out of key strongholds.
The troops spent much of their time living and mentoring the Afghan National Army. As the report shows orders often fell by the wayside due to a lack of trust between the British soldiers and their Afghan colleagues.
