.Executed by the Taliban: British soldier is kidnapped and killed on day Cameron makes surprise Afghan visit
A British soldier was snatched and executed by the Taliban yesterday after he wandered off alone from a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan.
It was the first kidnap of a British soldier in the conflict. His disappearance in an area riddled with insurgents and Improvised Explosive Devices sparked a 12-hour search with hundreds of troops and vehicles and all available helicopters.
David Cameron was forced to abandon part of an unannounced visit to the country so personnel and equipment which would have been with him could be diverted to help
The murder cast a shadow over what was supposed to be a victory tour for Mr Cameron to highlight progress in transforming Afghanistan and preparing for a withdrawal of British troops.
Last night the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the soldier’s body was found inside a four-mile cordon set up around the area he was last seen alive.
It is understood he was shot in the back of his head – which would indicate a cold-blooded execution – as well as suffering other gunshot wounds. Some of his equipment had been stolen.
An investigation is under way. The unnamed soldier was from the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland and his family have been informed.
He was last seen alive early yesterday after finishing duty at a vehicle checkpoint named Salaang near a remote joint British and Afghan base in central Helmand province.
Instead of returning to join fellow members of 4 Scots he is said to have walked – armed and in full combat uniform – in the opposite direction.
He was seen passing a checkpoint manned by the Afghan Army and said nothing as he walked into hostile territory. Taliban positions are often only a few hundred yards from those of Nato forces.
Colleagues raised the alarm when he failed to return and a massive manhunt was launched involving British, U.S. and Afghan forces.
Within hours, a Taliban spokesman claimed they had captured and killed the soldier after a fire fight but gave no further details.
Military insiders scotched reports from Afghanistan that the soldier had been ambushed or that there had been a fire fight between insurgents and British troops.
A Whitehall source said: ‘He finished his shift on duty at a vehicle checkpoint and then, for whatever reason, he has gone and walked off on his own.
‘Rather than heading back to the base with the other soldiers, he has gone off in the other direction. That was the last time he was seen.’ Checkpoint Salaang is close to the Nahr-e-Bughra canal. It is also near the much fought over village of Kopak, in the south of the Nahr-e-Saraj district, which stands on the Shamalan canal.
Brigadier Ed Davis, the commander of Task Force Helmand – Britain’s mission in Afghanistan – recently described the area as ‘one of the most dangerous in Central Helmand’.
Mr Cameron quickly decided to abandon the centrepiece of his visit – a trip to see British soldiers in the regional capital of Lashkar Gah – so personnel and vital helicopters could concentrate on the search for the soldier. Embarrassingly for the Prime Minister, the security alert came in an area which he was claiming as the leading success story in Helmand.
Lashkar Gah is part of the first phase of the transition from international control to Afghan security control, and is supposed to be fully passed over next month.
The three other servicemen who have previously been kidnapped in Afghanistan were American. They were all captured or killed by the Taliban.
In June 2009, insurgents captured Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in the south-east of the country.
They have released videos showing him in captivity dressed in Afghan clothing and military uniform. Sgt Bergdahl is seen denouncing the war in Afghanistan and calling for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from the country, in what the U.S. Military has called illegal propaganda.
And in July 2010, two sailors from the U.S. Navy went missing in Logar province, south of the Afghan capital Kabul. Their dead bodies were found in the area days later.
Only last week a British servicewoman described how Checkpoint Salaang had become embroiled in a firefight with insurgents.
Able Seaman Heidi Telford was with soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Rifles at the small checkpoint when they were ordered to provide cover for a patrol that came under attack.
In total, 374 British servicemen and women have been killed since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001, including 26 this year.
Cameron agrees to slower Afghanistan pull out after bowing to generals' demands
Defence chiefs have won a crunch battle over troop numbers in Afghanistan after David Cameron agreed to make only a ‘modest’ cut before the end of next year.
On his visit to Afghanistan yesterday, the Prime Minister made clear that British frontline troops will be gone by the end of 2014.
But he bowed to demands from generals not to reduce dramatically the 9,500 ground forces battling the Taliban before the end of next year’s summer fighting season.
When Mr Cameron makes a formal announcement to Parliament tomorrow he is expected to announce that no more than 500 troops will be pulled out before autumn 2012. Yesterday he claimed Afghanistan was ‘entering a new phase’ where Afghan troops could shoulder more of the security burden.
Mr Cameron said: ‘As that happens there will be opportunities to bring some British soldiers home. We’re talking relatively small numbers over a period of time.’
Britain’s most senior officer in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen James Bucknall, said recently that Nato troops need two more fighting seasons to suppress the Taliban. Most insurgents retreat during the cold winters. The Prime Minister confirmed he had bowed to the Army’s wishes. ‘You’ve got an enduring number of 9,500 this year and you’re not going to see a radical change for the fighting season of next year.
‘That’s not what this is about.’
Mr Cameron made clear that his deadline of bringing combat troops home before 2015 is set in stone, regardless of the situation on the ground. ‘I’ve always been clear. The end of 2014 is a deadline. We won’t be here in large numbers or in a combat role,’ he said.
‘It is my judgment that it’s right for the British public to know, for the Afghan public to know and the Afghan and British military to know that there is an endpoint.’ Asked if the generals had won, a senior officer said last night: ‘We have. We have ended up in the right place.’
General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, who was travelling with Mr Cameron, said British and Afghan troops were on course to allow a withdrawal of all combat forces by the end of 2014.
‘I think we are on track,’ he said. ‘The trick isn’t that we have completely finished off the insurgents but by the time we transition out finally, the Afghan National Security Force can handle it.’
Daily Mail
It was the first kidnap of a British soldier in the conflict. His disappearance in an area riddled with insurgents and Improvised Explosive Devices sparked a 12-hour search with hundreds of troops and vehicles and all available helicopters.
David Cameron was forced to abandon part of an unannounced visit to the country so personnel and equipment which would have been with him could be diverted to help
The murder cast a shadow over what was supposed to be a victory tour for Mr Cameron to highlight progress in transforming Afghanistan and preparing for a withdrawal of British troops.
Last night the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the soldier’s body was found inside a four-mile cordon set up around the area he was last seen alive.
It is understood he was shot in the back of his head – which would indicate a cold-blooded execution – as well as suffering other gunshot wounds. Some of his equipment had been stolen.
An investigation is under way. The unnamed soldier was from the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland and his family have been informed.
He was last seen alive early yesterday after finishing duty at a vehicle checkpoint named Salaang near a remote joint British and Afghan base in central Helmand province.
Instead of returning to join fellow members of 4 Scots he is said to have walked – armed and in full combat uniform – in the opposite direction.
He was seen passing a checkpoint manned by the Afghan Army and said nothing as he walked into hostile territory. Taliban positions are often only a few hundred yards from those of Nato forces.
Colleagues raised the alarm when he failed to return and a massive manhunt was launched involving British, U.S. and Afghan forces.
Within hours, a Taliban spokesman claimed they had captured and killed the soldier after a fire fight but gave no further details.
Military insiders scotched reports from Afghanistan that the soldier had been ambushed or that there had been a fire fight between insurgents and British troops.
A Whitehall source said: ‘He finished his shift on duty at a vehicle checkpoint and then, for whatever reason, he has gone and walked off on his own.
‘Rather than heading back to the base with the other soldiers, he has gone off in the other direction. That was the last time he was seen.’ Checkpoint Salaang is close to the Nahr-e-Bughra canal. It is also near the much fought over village of Kopak, in the south of the Nahr-e-Saraj district, which stands on the Shamalan canal.
Brigadier Ed Davis, the commander of Task Force Helmand – Britain’s mission in Afghanistan – recently described the area as ‘one of the most dangerous in Central Helmand’.
Mr Cameron quickly decided to abandon the centrepiece of his visit – a trip to see British soldiers in the regional capital of Lashkar Gah – so personnel and vital helicopters could concentrate on the search for the soldier. Embarrassingly for the Prime Minister, the security alert came in an area which he was claiming as the leading success story in Helmand.
Lashkar Gah is part of the first phase of the transition from international control to Afghan security control, and is supposed to be fully passed over next month.
The three other servicemen who have previously been kidnapped in Afghanistan were American. They were all captured or killed by the Taliban.
In June 2009, insurgents captured Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in the south-east of the country.
They have released videos showing him in captivity dressed in Afghan clothing and military uniform. Sgt Bergdahl is seen denouncing the war in Afghanistan and calling for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from the country, in what the U.S. Military has called illegal propaganda.
And in July 2010, two sailors from the U.S. Navy went missing in Logar province, south of the Afghan capital Kabul. Their dead bodies were found in the area days later.
Only last week a British servicewoman described how Checkpoint Salaang had become embroiled in a firefight with insurgents.
Able Seaman Heidi Telford was with soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Rifles at the small checkpoint when they were ordered to provide cover for a patrol that came under attack.
In total, 374 British servicemen and women have been killed since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001, including 26 this year.
Cameron agrees to slower Afghanistan pull out after bowing to generals' demands
Defence chiefs have won a crunch battle over troop numbers in Afghanistan after David Cameron agreed to make only a ‘modest’ cut before the end of next year.
On his visit to Afghanistan yesterday, the Prime Minister made clear that British frontline troops will be gone by the end of 2014.
But he bowed to demands from generals not to reduce dramatically the 9,500 ground forces battling the Taliban before the end of next year’s summer fighting season.
When Mr Cameron makes a formal announcement to Parliament tomorrow he is expected to announce that no more than 500 troops will be pulled out before autumn 2012. Yesterday he claimed Afghanistan was ‘entering a new phase’ where Afghan troops could shoulder more of the security burden.
Mr Cameron said: ‘As that happens there will be opportunities to bring some British soldiers home. We’re talking relatively small numbers over a period of time.’
Britain’s most senior officer in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen James Bucknall, said recently that Nato troops need two more fighting seasons to suppress the Taliban. Most insurgents retreat during the cold winters. The Prime Minister confirmed he had bowed to the Army’s wishes. ‘You’ve got an enduring number of 9,500 this year and you’re not going to see a radical change for the fighting season of next year.
‘That’s not what this is about.’
Mr Cameron made clear that his deadline of bringing combat troops home before 2015 is set in stone, regardless of the situation on the ground. ‘I’ve always been clear. The end of 2014 is a deadline. We won’t be here in large numbers or in a combat role,’ he said.
‘It is my judgment that it’s right for the British public to know, for the Afghan public to know and the Afghan and British military to know that there is an endpoint.’ Asked if the generals had won, a senior officer said last night: ‘We have. We have ended up in the right place.’
General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, who was travelling with Mr Cameron, said British and Afghan troops were on course to allow a withdrawal of all combat forces by the end of 2014.
‘I think we are on track,’ he said. ‘The trick isn’t that we have completely finished off the insurgents but by the time we transition out finally, the Afghan National Security Force can handle it.’
Daily Mail
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