THE PRESS ASSOCIATION (UK), KHAAMA PRESS (Afghanistan), REUTERS
The UK Defense Ministry confirmed Monday that three British soldiers were shot to death at a check-point in southwest Afghanistan by a man wearing an Afghan police uniform. The gunman was injured and detained after the Sunday attack, a spokesperson for the Ministry told Reuters.
According to the UK Press Association, the soldiers were shot as they were leaving a shura, or meeting of elders, at checkpoint Kamparack Pul in Nahr-e-Saraj, in a southern stretch of Helmand Province. Two of the soldiers were from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and the other was from the Royal Corps of Signals. They were working with the Afghan Police Advisory Team.
In a statement on Sunday, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) led by NATO had announced that “An individual wearing an Afghan National Civil Order Police uniform turned his weapon against ISAF service members in southern Afghanistan today, killing three service members,” Khaama Press reports. Monday's report confirmed the nationalities of the victims.
Other so-called "green-on-blue" attacks by members of Afghan military or police forces against coalition soldiers had occured in May and March, a major blow to the morale of international troops that often work with and train locals.
According to BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville in Kabul, the assailant could be a member of the Afghan National Civil Order Police, a special police force created in 2006 for law-enforcement.
The killer was taken alive and is in custody. Believed to be a member of elite ANCOP force
— Quentin Sommerville (@mrsommerville) July 2, 2012
The attack brings the total number of UK service member deaths to 422 since the begining of NATO operations in October 2001. There are currently 9,500 British troops in Afghanistan, with plans to bring them back by the end of 2014.
