Bravery while under fire from insurgents

Published on Friday 10 February 2012 00:00

IN a letter to Warwickshire’s Chief Constable Keith Bristow, Gillian Preece, of the British Embassy in Kabul, reveals why Alistair Wright has received a silver medal.

“You may be aware that on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 of September 2011, the city of Kabul came under attack from a group of insurgents determined to kill and injure local nationals, international coalition forces and policing partners.

A number of separate sites were attacked, most notably the US Embassy, ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) HQ and the National Directorate of Security HQ.

Although Eupol was not directly targeted, these locations are very close, and Eupol came under indirect fire from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), automatic weapons and small arms. The insurgents were firing, from a building only 300 yards from Eupol.

More than 230 persons were present within Eupol HQ when the insurgents struck at 13:30 hours on Tuesday 13 September, including a number of local nationals, and the attack, which was serious, life-threatening, hostile and determined, lasted well over 14 hours. When the attack began, Alistair assisted in removing local national staff from their offices and safely into a bunker, despite the relentless explosions and sounds of automatic gunfire being fired overhead. He disregarded his own safety to ensure local national staff were safeguarded and protected from harm and injury.

Once inside the bunkers, Alistair and a small number of other UK police officers took charge, leading 212 people through the next 14 hours.

His leadership ensured the bunkers were guarded and secure, rooms were made available to local female nationals, prayer rooms were created, sanitation, medical facilities and emergency rations were arranged and regular updates were provided to all persons present (many of whom were not native English speakers). The atmosphere and environment within the bunker was tough and demanding with many persons frightened for their lives. Alistair played a key role in ensuring staff were calm and felt safe.

The incident finally came to a conclusion when Special Forces killed nine insurgents. A full review and debrief of this incident has taken place and the head of the Eupol policing mission has awarded Alistair a silver medal for his outstanding leadership during this incident.”

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  ALISTAIR Wright was in a meeting when he heard a loud bang that heralded the start of one of the most dramatic attacks by insurgents in Kabul’s recent history.

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