Scots leading Nato's move into new Afghan territory

Published on Wednesday 17 June 2009 22:07

WITH purpose and precision, the soldiers from the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, pace through the poppy fields of southern Afghanistan.

Private Alan Brown, a 23-year-old javelin gunner from Dundee, pictured centre carrying his anti-armour weapon, moves towards the village of Nalgham in the Zhari district of Khandahar province, as part of Operation Tora Arwa. The area is a base for Taleban insurgents, with its vast expanses of farmland and rocky desert fraught with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Earlier this month, two policemen were killed and five wounded in a roadside bomb blast in the district.

The Scottish battalion took over responsibility for supporting a variety of operations across the whole of southern Afghanistan in April.

Based within Camp Roberts at Kandahar airfield, the soldiers from 3 Scots will visit areas that are not yet being patrolled by the Nato-led International Security Force.

Last week, a 20-year-old soldier from the Black Watch was killed near Kandahar.

Private Robert McLaren, from Kintras on the Isle of Mull, passed out of Seven Platoon in April, after which he was posted to Afghanistan.

He died from the blast of an IED while rushing to support fellow soldiers pinned down by enemy fire.