ANA soldier kill's 3 Aussie soldiers

[ArmAriffic 10]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/11064182/3-aussie-soldiers-killed-in-afghanistan/

Chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) General David Hurley has expressed his deep sorrow and regret over the deaths of three Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

"It is difficult to find the words to express our profound sorrow and sense of loss at this time," he said.

The three - a corporal, captain and lance corporal - were killed and seven others were wounded in the incident in Afghanistan at 8.30am (about 3pm AEDT) on Saturday.

An Afghan interpreter was also killed in the incident.

Defence said the families have been notified.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said it was a terrible day for the nation, and had taken the overall Afghan death toll to 32.

"The general events that General Hurley and I have outlined today will reverberate throughout the nation," Mr Smith said.

General Hurley said the deaths occurred after an Afghan national soldier opened fire on a parade.

"The gunman was shot and killed," he said.

The dead were members of the Mentoring Task Force in southern Afghanistan.

"It will be the subject of a full and complete investigation by the defence force," Mr Smith said.

Of the three, the corporal and lance corporal were on their first deployment to Afghanistan while the captain was on a second tour.

The corporal and the captain had earlier this year taken part in flood and cyclone relief operations in Queensland.

Of the wounded, General Hurley said one soldier was being treated for life threatening wounds, four had serious wounds, and the other two had minor wounds.

General Hurley said it was likely the most seriously wounded soldiers would be transferred to a medical facility in Germany in the coming days.

"The ADF will ensure these men continue to receive the best medical care," he said.

"We will work with their families to ensure that the wounded soldiers have the support required to help them recover."

Mr Smith said despite the fatalities, Australia remained committed to its mission in Afghanistan, and progress was being made.

"We continue to be in Afghanistan because we believe it is in Australia's national security and national interest to be there," he told reporters in Perth.

He said progress was being made in the battle against international terrorism.

"Despite terrible setbacks like today, we believe we are making progress, both in terms of training and mentoring the Afghan national security forces in Oruzgan and in Afghanistan generally."

Mr Smith said this year, the Taliban in Oruzgan province and in Afghanistan generally had "failed to retake any ground taken from them over the last 18 months or so".

Leaving now would run the risk of "creating a vacuum", he said.

"In the aftermath of any fatality ... the immediate reaction of the Australian people will be to question our commitment, I understand that," Mr Smith said.

There would be an "exhaustive" inquiry into the incident to try to minimise the risk of it happening again.

General Hurley said the Afghan soldiers had been confined to barracks while evidence was gathered.

He said the mobile monitoring task force operations had been taking place there since September.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

RIP, gents, and a speedy recovery to those wounded.

[solidsnake2384 10]

What is with these rogue Afghan soldiers? Didnt something like this happen during a meeting with Afghan soldiers and US troops and one of them pulled out a pistol and shot soldiers?

[HyperU2 11]

Well it's sometimes a martyrdom infiltrator, sometimes a workplace shooting.

[PELHAM 10]

Condolences to the families of the dead and injured, it's very sad to read about yet another incident of this type. The UK have suffered several incidents similar to this one.

[ArmAriffic 10]

Update: ANA troop's disarmed over digger's deaths

Hundreds of Afghan soldiers have been stripped of their weapons and confined to their barracks after one opened fire on Australian soldiers, killing three and wounding seven.

The Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier gunned down the Australian members of Mentoring Task Force 3 as they were on morning parade at a forward operating base at Shah Wali Kot in Kandahar province on Saturday morning local time.

Three Australians - a corporal, captain and lance corporal - were killed, making it the single most deadly attack on Australian forces of the entire Afghanistan campaign.

Australian Defence Force (ADF) chief David Hurley said their names and details would not be immediately released although their families had been notified.

Another Australian sustained life-threatening injuries and is likely to be airlifted to a military medical centre in Germany.

Another four Australians were seriously wounded while two suffered minor injuries.

One Afghan interpreter was also killed. Two interpreters and two other ANA soldiers were wounded.

Australian forces - including some of those who were wounded - returned fire at the gunman, killing him.

The wounded were treated at the scene before being transferred by helicopter to a nearby medical facility for treatment.

"It is difficult to find the words to express our profound sorrow and sense of loss at this time," General Hurley told reporters in Perth.

The ADF has launched an investigation to determine whether the gunman from the ANA's 6th Kandak unit was a Taliban or terrorist infiltrator, or whether something else motivated his attack.

"It is critical we show restraint and reserve our judgments until the investigation is complete," General Hurley said.

The Afghan army quickly ordered the disarming of all 200-plus local 6th Kandak personnel and confined them to their barracks.

The Australian soldiers were deployed to the Pacemaker base outside their usual operating area in Oruzgan Province to help train the 6th Kandak.

Little is yet known about the shooter but it is believed he had been in the force for some time and was not a new recruit.

Australia's roughly 1550-strong contingent in Afghanistan was in deep shock as a result of the attack, General Hurley said.

He conceded there would now be a period during which Australian soldiers would be "apprehensive" about their ongoing working relationship with the ANA.

"That will be quite natural," he said.

"I will be looking to the commanders in the field over there.

"They will need to work their way through this because very much at the heart of our mission is the mentoring and training of the Afghan national army."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was a bitter day for Australia.

"It is an attempt by our enemy to strike at the core of our training and mentoring mission in Afghanistan," Ms Gillard told reporters.

The nation had suffered very deeply in Afghanistan this year, with 11 soldiers killed, she said.

"I am unbelievably conscious of that, I am unbelievably conscious of the suffering for families, of the sufferings of the nation as we see these losses," she said.

"I am also very conscious of the need to see the mission through."

But Ms Gillard acknowledged that public support for Australia's mission in Afghanistan could be further damaged by the incident.

She urged Australians not to judge the progress of the mission on one incident alone.

"Despite the gravity of this incident, and the horror of this incident, we are making progress in training members of the Afghan National Army," she said.

"We can't allow our will to be undermined by the kinds of attacks that are aimed at corroding trust."

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the motivation of the Taliban's "high-profile, propaganda-motivated" attacks was to reduce confidence and political will for the conflict.

"If we were to leave now the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area would again become a breeding ground for international terrorism, and Australians have been on the receiving end of international terrorism, whether that has been in Indonesia, in the United States, or in Europe," Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith maintained that Afghanistan would be able to take charge of its own security by 2014.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott described the deaths of the Australian soldiers as "tragic indeed".

This is the second time this year an ANA soldier has targeted a member of Australia's defence force. Lance Corporal Andrew Jones was killed by a rogue ANA soldier.

Thirty-two Australians have now died in the war and 209 have been wounded.