Gunner And Interpreter On Night Patrol Are Killed By Taleban Mine

A gunner from the RAF Regiment and a civilian Afghan interpreter were killed yesterday during a search for Taleban forces targeting the British airbase at Kandahar. They are believed to have died when the Land Rover they were travelling in drove over a mine.

The gunner is the fifth member of the RAF Regiment to be killed by enemy action in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past six weeks. The regiment’s role is to guard British bases; its members act as frontline infantrymen.

The death of the interpreter underlines once again the dangers faced by the locally employed civilians whose language skills the British military relies on in its efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

The Ministry of Defence, Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are reviewing whether to grant special rights to interpreters in Iraq to allow them to move to Britain for their own safety once British troops have withdrawn from Basra.

The review, which is expected to reach a decision in the autumn, and which was set up after a campaign by The Times, could also affect any future applications by Afghan interpreters to live in Britain.

The latest deaths – the gunner was the 74th British serviceman to die in Afghanistan since the campaign began in November 2001 – occurred shortly after midnight about a mile west of Kandahar airbase.

The patrol from 51 Squadron RAF Regiment, whose home base is in Lossiemouth, Moray, was looking for Taleban mortar positions when an explosion happened.

An RAF Chinook helicopter from Kandahar evacuated the casualties, which included two other servicemen with minor injuries. The RAF Regiment gunner was found to be dead on arrival at the medical facility at Kandahar, and the interpreter died later of his wounds.

Group Captain Roberts, the base commander at RAF Lossiemouth, said that the two injured soldiers were also from 51 Squadron. The next-of-kin of the dead serviceman had been informed, but his name would not be released until today.

Group Captain Roberts added that it was not yet known what had caused the explosion in Kandahar, but an inquiry had been started.

“RAF Lossiemouth is a close-knit family and when members of the family are killed or injured we all feel it,” he said.

Angus Robertson, the Scottish National Party MP for Moray, said: “This is terribly sad news. Everybody’s thoughts go out to the family and friends of the serviceman who died.”

Last week three soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment were killed in neighbouring Helmand province when a US Air Force F15 mistakenly dropped a 500lb bomb on their position.

About 12,000 soldiers and civilians are based at the Kandahar airfield. It is also home to the divisional headquarters of Major-General Jacko Page, who is in charge of the southern region of Afghanistan.

The RAF Regiment’s 51 Squadron has been in Kandahar since April. It was due to return home in the next few weeks. Attacks on the base have been reduced in recent months, mainly because of the squadron’s aggressive and high-risk patrols outside the perimeter of the airfield.

The four other members of the RAF Regiment who have died in the past six weeks were all killed in Iraq.

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