International mission ends in tragedy as soldier killed

The disappearance of the unnamed soldier, who was serving with The Highlanders, the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, sparked a major search mission amid reports that he had left his compound in central Helmand alone in the early hours of yesterday morning.

His body was finally discovered last night. He had suffered gunshot wounds, although further details of his death have not been released by military officials.

His next of kin has been informed.

The incident was the first time the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had acknowledged a British soldier was missing in action since the war in Afghanistan started almost ten years ago.

His absence overshadowed a visit to Afghanistan by Prime Minister David Cameron, who cancelled a visit to Lashkar Gah so that the military could focus helicopters, surveillance assets and Special Forces on the mission to find the soldier.

The last time the soldier was seen alive was at about 2:30am, when Afghan troops watched him walk past their checkpoint and over a bridge, close to Checkpoint Salaang in central Helmand.

He was reported missing two hours later when commanders cancelled operations across the province to focus on the search.

The search continued through the day and ended with the discovery of his body. "He had suffered gunshot wounds," Lieutenant Colonel Tim Purbrick, Taskforce spokesman for the Ministry of Defence, said last night. "His exact cause of death is still to be established and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and death are currently under investigation.

"It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Neither Nato nor Britain's Ministry of Defence ever called the operation a "rescue" mission, which suggests that senior officers were never sure if the missing man was dead or alive by the time they started looking.

Speaking before the body was found, Mr Cameron described the soldier's disappearance as a "very disturbing incident".

"My thoughts all day have been with that young man and trying to help the military find him," he said. The soldier had just finished a shift on sentry duty in Nahr-e Saraj district, when he was spotted walking south, along a main road towards the village of Kopak.

Known as the 4 Scots, his regiment is currently on its second tour of Afghanistan and has served in Helmand Province since last spring.

It is not known why the soldier left the protection of a nearby British base. He was thought to be wearing an army uniform and there were no suggestions from officials in Afghanistan or London that he was showing any obvious signs of being under duress.

Nato officials said "all the surveillance assets available", including unmanned and eavesdropping planes were scrambled to look for unusual Taleban activity and listen for any mention of a captive soldier.

Meanwhile, British, Afghan and US forces set up extra road blocks and checkpoints across the area to try to stop insurgents smuggling the man abroad.

Two years ago, 25-year-old American soldier Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was captured in south-eastern Afghanistan and is thought to be being held in Pakistan. Videos have been released showing him in captivity dressed in both Afghan clothing and in military uniform.

The 4 Scots soldier was finally found at about 7:30pm yesterday, although officials refused to say where he was discovered.His body was flown to Camp Bastion for formal identification and a post-mortem examination to determine the cause of death.

Nato's International Security Assistance Force and the MoD had earlier refused to give details of what happened, fearing they may jeopardise the operation, if the soldier was still alive.

However, the Afghan army commander for Helmand province, General Sayed Malook, said he understood the soldier had walked to Kopak with two Afghan soldiers, to go swimming in the Nahr-e Bughra canal.

"Until now, we still don't know if he drowned, or what happened to him. We have sent a group to look for him," he said before the soldier's body was found.

"Our initial information indicates that a British soldier, along with two Afghan National Army soldiers, left their base in Nahr-e Saraj district and went to Kopak village to swim," he said.

"They went to Kopak to swim in the river, early in the morning. After a while, they noticed that the British soldier was missing. When our two soldiers came out of the water, they couldn't see him."

British troops previously used to swim in the Helmand river, where it flowed through their base in Sangin, and at the reservoir at Kajaki - but both bases were handed over to US Marines last year.

Four British soldiers drowned in the canal last year when their vehicle crashed into the water.

Nato officials were also investigating reports that the soldier was spotted with a group of local men in Kopak, who then delivered him to the Taleban commander, identified locally as Mullah Khaliq Dad.

A Taleban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, had earlier claimed that the soldier was captured in a firefight, on Sunday night and killed at 3am this morning, in the crossfire of a rescue operation. Their timeline was at odds with the account pieced together by The Scotsman from Afghan, Nato and British sources. The group often makes opportunist claims of responsibility and exaggerates death tolls.

Two US sailors were killed after they went Awol from a base in Kabul last year, while Scots aid worker Linda Norgrove was killed following her capture by members of the Taleban in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan in September, 2010.

Ms Norgrove, from the Western Isles, died from a grenade thrown by one of her rescuers from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, which had stepped in amid concerns that she would be killed or moved by her captors.

In Westminster yesterday, Defence Secretary Liam Fox confirmed the soldier's disappearance.

"We all know our forces are both brave and brilliant and this is a reminder of the daily danger they face," added shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy.