Troops killed in rogue attack named

Building a strong Afghan police force is seen as a key part of the UK's exit strategy

Five British soldiers have been shot dead by a British-trained Afghan policeman who "went rogue" and attacked them inside a military compound.

Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Sergeant Matthew Telford and Guardsman James Major from the Grenadier Guards died alongside Acting Corporal Steven Boote and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith from the Royal Military Police.

They were killed in the Nad-e'Ali district of Helmand Province on Tuesday afternoon.

Another six British soldiers and two Afghan policemen were wounded in the shooting - claimed by the Taliban - which has rocked the coalition mission in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Telford's uncle, William Ferrand, said: "It was his job and he absolutely loved it. Everybody knows what a wonderful lad he was. It has devastated all of us."

Top UK, US and Afghan commanders expressed deep regret for the incident and pledged it would be fully investigated. The British soldiers had been living and working at the police checkpoint for about a fortnight as part of a team mentoring Afghan National Police officers. They had just returned from a patrol. Some reports suggested they had taken off their body armour and were drinking tea with their Afghan colleagues. Without warning the policeman opened fire from the roof of the checkpoint before anyone could respond.

Tribal elders named the attacker as a member of the Taliban called Gulbuddin, it was reported. Authorities in Helmand said he attended a police academy in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, and had been working as an officer in the Nad-e-Ali area for three years.

A UK military spokesman described the killer as a policeman who "went rogue" and said every effort was being put into hunting him down.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons that the Taliban had said it was behind the shootings. "While we are assembling evidence, the Taliban have claimed responsibility for this incident," he said at Prime Minister's Questions. But Downing Street later appeared to back away from the assertion, citing media reports of possible insurgent involvement.

The killings took the UK death toll in Afghanistan since the conflict began in 2001 to 229, and made 2009 the bloodiest year for the Armed Forces since the Falklands War. They also threatened to set back progress towards the final withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.