| GEO World | | Five UK troops killed in shooting at Afghan police base | Updated at: 0145 PST, Thursday, November 05, 2009
KABUL: Five British soldiers were killed yesterday in a shooting at an Afghan police base in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.
The soldiers are believed to have been shot by a "rogue" Afghan policeman who opened fire in a police compound, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, a military spokesman, told media.
The British soldiers were living and working in the compound in the Nad-e’Ali district as part of an assignment to train Afghan national police officers, Wakefield said.
The gunman and a possible accomplice escaped and a search is under way, Wakefield said. Three of the soldiers were from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police, the ministry said. Next of kin have been informed, it added.
"The death of five brave soldiers in a single incident is a terrible loss," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in an e-mailed statement. |  |
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