5 British soldiers shot dead by rogue Afghan policeman

troubleshooter

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8341659.stm


Five British soldiers have been killed in a single incident in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Three of the soldiers were from the Grenadier Guards and two were from the Royal Military Police.
They had all been shot by a "rogue" Afghan policeman who had opened fire within a training compound before fleeing, Lt Col David Wakefield said.
The soldiers' next of kin have been informed of the deaths.
Lt Col Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "It is with the deepest sadness I must inform you that five British soldiers were shot and killed yesterday in Nad-e'Ali District.

BBC Kabul correspondent Ian Pannell said sources indicated the attacker was a police officer called Gulbuddin who had fled the scene after the shooting.

It appears he could have been involved in a dispute with his commander, but tribal sources have pointed to a link with the Taliban.

pmg58

Absolutely tragic. RIP.

Steyr

Terrible, RIP.

minidazzler

That's terrible, it really is. RIP

Local-womanizer

RIP

BigDuffman

RIP

Fratton Fred

it is terrible, RIP to them and a speedy recovery to the others, both British and Afghan, that were injured as well.

I wonder what this will do to relations between ISAF and the ANP? I believe there was already a cetain amount of distrust and this can't help at all.

Morlar

RIP to them all.

I think from their perspective this is an enormous coup, if they had the capacity to do this several more times in quick succession they could do enormous damage. I would imagine it will affect relations significantly and probably compel more stringent vetting methods & checks as well as security procedures so it's a pretty worrying development in my view.

piby

Well from the papers I gather the general ISAF consensus is, not surprisingly:
ANA: Can be trusted
ANP: Not so much

That said it's easy to see why the ANP is so ineffectual. They get **** pay, **** training and 8 of them are killed every day :eek: It's hardly going to draw out the best society has to offer. I know the ANA have these problems as well so but it doesn't seem to have as much of a corrupting effect.

The Taliban have now claimed that the attacker is with them and 'safe'.

OS119

it was only a matter of time - the ANP/ANA and OMLT's are in such close proximity - and one of the principles of omlette is that you have to demonstrate trust in the ANP/ANA, that it was a forgone conclusion that either an individual would make an attack or that Taleban would use such an opening.

the risk is part of the program, indeed publicly taking that risk is one of the building blocks of the program. there may be an initial 'risk reduction' reaction, but if we refuse to work in close, unguarded proximity to ANA/ANP then we're wasting out time being in country.

RIP.

iceage

It gets worse..Another lad killed today in a separate incident.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8345063.stm

A very bad week for the Brits in Afghanistan.

RIP lads. Thoughts and prayers with the families, mates and the others injured.