Servicemen shot dead in Afghanistan (From The Oxford Times)
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Servicemen shot dead in Afghanistan
9:03am Sunday 13th May 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013
Two people wearing Afghan Police uniforms shot and killed two British servicemen in Helmand province
Two British servicemen have been shot dead by members of the Afghan Police Force, the Ministry of Defence said.
A Royal Air Force airman and a soldier from 1st Battalion Welsh Guards were killed on Saturday in the Lashkar Gah district of Helmand province.
They were providing security for a meeting with local officials at a patrol base, the MoD said. Next of kin have been informed.
An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman said the attack was conducted by two people wearing Afghan Police uniforms. One is on the run and the other was killed when forces returned fire, the spokesman said.
The incident appears to be the latest in a string of "green on blue" attacks in which members of the Afghan security forces have opened fire on international allies.
In March, Sergeant Luke Taylor, of the Royal Marines, and Lance Corporal Michael Foley, of the Adjutant General's Corps (Staff and Personnel Support) were shot dead by an Afghan soldier at the entrance to the UK headquarters in Helmand province.
Five British soldiers were killed by a rogue Afghan policeman in November 2009. The gunman opened fire on the men in a military compound in Nad e-Ali before fleeing. The Taliban later claimed responsibility.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it appeared that two assailants were involved in the attack.
"What appears to have happened is that an Afghan police officer opened fire on a mentoring team working with the Afghan police. One of the assailants was killed, we think, by other Afghan police officers, one escaped," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.
He added: "British forces work alongside Afghan forces everyday with thousands of contacts with them everyday. This is a country that has an insurgency going on in it and, sadly, occasionally, these events occur. We don't yet know what the motive was, we don't yet know whether this was an insurgent who'd infiltrated the police or whether it was a policeman who simply had a grievance of some kind."
