Gunman identified as policeman called Gulbadin greeted with flowers on return to Taliban protection, sources say
The gunman who killed five British soldiers in an attack in Afghanistan's Helmand province was today back with Taliban fighters who greeted him with flowers, sources close to the Afghan security forces said.
The killer – identified only as a policeman called Gulbadin – was back under Taliban protection, the source said.
British and Afghan commanders were undertaking an urgent investigation into the circumstances of the attack.
The Ministry of Defence named the five soldiers who died in the attack as Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Sergeant Matthew Telford, Guardsman James Major, Acting Corporal Steven Boote and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith.
Military officials said the men were shot as they drank tea at a military compound in the village of Shin Kalay.
The deaths prompted deep soul-searching in Whitehall because Gordon Brown had put British army training of the expanding Afghan security force at the heart of his exit strategy from the country.
Gulbadin joined the Afghan police force three years ago, undergoing his initial police training in the city of Kandahar.
He was a member of the Alozai tribe in an area in which the Noorzai tribe dominates the police.
Speaking after the killings, tribal elders said they were aware Gulbadin had Taliban links.
They said he had recently been involved in a furious dispute with Muhammad Wali, his police commander for the previous two years.
Unable to work with Wali, Gulbadin had been reassigned to the police checkpoint in Shin Kalay, commanded by an officer named Manam.
One tribal elder said Gulbadin's new commander had tried to help patch up the relationship between Gulbadin and Wali, adding that Manam had been injured in the shooting. Some reports indicated that Manam may have been the first target.
British defence officials said there was no clear evidence that the attack had been planned by the Taliban in advance, but Brown said this was a matter for investigators.
William Ferrand, Telford's uncle, said: "Everybody knows what a wonderful lad he was. It has devastated all of us."
Ninety-two British service personnel have been killed in southern Afghanistan so far this year, compared with 51 in the whole of last year.
The deaths have made this the bloodiest year for the British armed forces since the Falklands war.
Speaking at a press conference in Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, Major General Nick Carter, the British commander of Nato troops in southern Afghanistan, said every effort was being made to track down the killer.
