Three British soldiers killed by Afghan policeman after argument

In a statement the MoD said: “The soldiers were serving in an Afghan Police
Advisory Team and had been to the check point to conduct a shura (meeting).
On leaving, they were engaged by small arms fire by a man wearing an Afghan
Police uniform. During this exchange of fire the three soldiers were wounded
and despite receiving first aid at the scene, they died of their injuries.”

The killer was a member of the Afghan Civil Order Police, whose members have a
reputation for having better training and greater discipline than the
notorious national police.

A police source in Helmand said shooting had erupted after an unknown
argument.

He said: “There was an argument between the foreigners and the Afghans.
There was a lot of shouting and then suddenly there was shooting.”

Ghulam Sakhi Ghafoori, head of the civil order police in Helmand, said his men
had been partnered with British forces to secure a local highway.

He said: “We don’t know what happened yet. The British and my police have
been working together. I am on my way to the scene to investigate.”

While Afghan police are supposed to heavily vetted a number of what is called
“green on blue” incidents have happened in the last year.

The incident is the deadliest since 2010 when an officer two Gurkhas were
killed by an Afghan soldiers. That incident came eight month after five
soldiers from the Grenadier Guard battlegroup were murdered by a policeman.

Commanders are now calling for a change in policy by adopting an American
approach to security when working alongside Afghans.

The shootings will also be a severe set back in the training and mentoring
programme of Afghan security forces. British troops are now “embedded” with
Afghans across the local army and police, some in small numbers.

But following an incident in Kabul earlier this year the Americans have
adopted a policy that at all times during meetings or operations at least
one soldier is stood back with his weapon “cocked and locked”. However, this
has raised issues of trust with local troops.

“The concern is going to be where is the whole mentoring and training
programme going to go with ‘green on blues’ happening with this regularity?”
said one officer.

“Look at what happened when the French had green on blue with four dead, they
announced within hours that they were leaving Afghanistan.”

Major Ian Lawrence, the British military spokesman said: “Their loss will
be felt deeply across Task Force Helmand. However, this will be nothing
compared to the grief experienced by the soldiers’ families. Our thoughts
and prayers are with them at this extremely difficult time.”

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