Five soldiers killed in ‘Australia’s worst day’ in Afghanistan

AUSTRALIA was yesterday mourning five soldiers killed in Afghanistan in the deadliest few hours of combat operations since the Vietnam war.

• Man in Afghan army uniform kills three troops relaxing at base

• Helicopter crash claims lives of two soldiers

They died in two separate incidents just hours apart late on Wednesday and early yesterday.

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In the first incident a man in Afghan army uniform opened fire on Australian soldiers at a base in Uruzgan province, killing three and wounding two, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin said.

Hours later, two Australian soldiers died and a crew member was wounded when their helicopter rolled over while landing in Helmand province.

“In a war of so many losses, this is our single worst day in Afghanistan,” prime minister Julia Gillard said. “Indeed, I believe this is the most losses in combat since the days of the Vietnam war and the Battle of Long Tan. This is so truly shocking that it’s going to feel for many Australians like a physical blow.”

Eighteen Australian soldiers were killed at Long Tan in 1966.

The Australians were relaxing at the base when the assailant began shooting at close range with an automatic weapon, Air Marshal Binskin said. Soldiers at the base returned fire, but the gunman escaped.

One of the wounded soldiers sustained a serious gunshot wound and was evacuated to another base for treatment. He is in satisfactory condition. The other was treated at the scene.

The Afghan soldier accused of the shooting was named Hekmatullah, and was working as a night guard at the Afghan army base where international troops had stopped to spend the night, Afghan officials said. Hekmatullah fired at the Australians as they entered the base in Uruzgan’s Chora district, said Abdulhameed Hameed, an Afghan army commander in the south.

Australian and Afghan soldiers were still hunting for the killer late yesterday.

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So-called green on blue attacks, in which Afghan security forces or insurgents posing as soldiers or police fire on their coalition allies, have been rising over the past year and have surged even higher in the past few weeks. There have been at least 34 attacks this year, killing 45 coalition members. Last year, four Australian soldiers were killed by Afghan troops.

Ms Gillard, who had returned early from a meeting of Pacific nation leaders in the Cook Islands, said security for Australian soldiers had been heightened following the attack. She accepted the incident was a blow for working relationships.

“These insider incidents are very difficult for trust between Australian soldiers and the Afghans that they train. They are corrosive of trust,” she said.

Thirty-eight Australian soldiers have been killed in the Afghanistan war, and the latest incidents were its worst loss of life in a 24-hour period since the campaign began more than a decade ago.

Australia has 1,550 troops in Afghanistan and makes the largest military contribution of any country outside Nato. The Australian soldiers’ priority is training an Afghan battalion to take over security in restive Uruzgan.

Australia plans to begin withdrawing troops once the Afghan battalion is fully trained, as early as next year. Ms Gillard said the latest bloodshed would not accelerate that process. “Our strategy is well defined, our strategy is constant. And we cannot allow even the most grievous of losses to change our strategy,” she said. “We are there for a purpose and we will see that purpose through.”

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