Afghan soldier kills three Gurkhas

Afghan soldier kills three Gurkhas
Kabul: An Afghan soldier fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a military base control room early today, killing three British Gurkha troops and wounding four more before fleeing, officials said.

It was the second time in eight months that an Afghan turned against British troops partnering with local security forces. In November, an Afghan policeman killed five British soldiers at a checkpoint — also in southern Helmand province, where today’s attack happened.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the soldiers from 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles died in a “suspected premeditated attack by a member of the Afghan National Army using a combination of weapons.” They were serving at a base in Helmand’s Nahr-i-Saraj district. The renegade Afghan soldier used a shoulder-mounted launcher to fire a grenade at British soldiers inside a base control room at around 2 am, Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Mohammad Zaher Azimi said.

The soldier escaped and is being sought, he said, adding that the motive of the attack was not yet clear. A joint coalition-Afghan team is investigating.

Petraeus also expressed condolences and made his call for unity among security forces.”We have sacrificed greatly together, and we must ensure that the trust between our forces remains solid in order to defeat our common enemies,” Petraeus said in a statement. Afghan Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi expressed regret and pledged to capture and prosecute the attacker.

“The loss of any of our coalition partners affects us deeply,” Karimi said.

Deputy Commander of the NATO-led forces, Lt Gen Nick Parker, said

details of the attack are still unclear but it appeared the soldier betrayed his unit and international partners. “It does look to us as if this is another example of a member of the Afghan

National Security forces attacking our soldiers,” Parker said, referring to the

earlier, November incident.

President Hamid Karzai quickly sent a letter of apology to the British government. Gen David Petraeus, the commander NATO forces in Afgh-anistan, called for unity among international troops and the Afghan soldiers in the fight against the Taliban.

Britain has around 10,000 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of an international force fighting the Taliban. A total of 317 British forces personnel have died while serving in Afghan-istan since the start of operations 2001.