Troop deaths 'not last atrocity'

The killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman "probably won't be the last" attack of this kind, the top UK general in Afghanistan has said.

But General Jim Dutton told the BBC it had been a "very rare event" and it was important to "see it in perspective".

Tuesday's killings in Helmand would be investigated "extremely rigorously" by the Army and Afghan police, he added.

Earlier on Thursday, a soldier from 3rd Battalion, The Rifles, died in an explosion near Sangin, central Helmand.

Rare event

The five soldiers killed on Tuesday had been working and living in a compound at a national police checkpoint in the Nad Ali district in the two weeks up to their deaths.

They died when a policeman being trained by UK forces opened fire, also injuring six other British personnel and two Afghan National Police officers.

Asked on BBC One's Politics Show whether the shooting would make soldiers fearful, Gen Dutton said: "Well, I think yes, it does initially, but then of course as we think about it in the longer term.

"As I say there's over 90,000 [police in Afghanistan] and we're building this police force and the army as quickly as we can.

The vast majority of those policemen are doing a good job for the future of Afghanistan Gen Jim Dutton Tributes to five 'men of courage'

"It's easy for me to say this, sitting here, I'm not a relative or a colleague of those particular soldiers, but looking at it from a distance here you have to see it in perspective.

"It's not the first time that an Afghan policeman or an Afghan soldier or indeed soldiers of other nations in other theatres have carried out this sort of atrocity.

"And regrettably I think we have to say it probably won't be the last. But it is a very rare event."

'Rogues'

Gen Dutton also said: "We are building the police force and the army as quickly as we can.

"The vast majority of those policemen are doing a good job for the future of Afghanistan - as good as they are able to. There is always going to be the odd one or two rogues."

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said the soldiers had been "men of courage" whose memories would live on.

They were Warrant Officer first class Darren Chant, 40; Sergeant Matthew Telford, 37; Guardsman Jimmy Major, 18; Corporal Steven Boote, 22, and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith, 24.

The death of WO1 Chant, who was due to be told on the day he was killed he had been awarded a commission as an officer, was said to have left an "enormous gap" in the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards.

Sgt Telford, who served in the same battalion, was described as a "quiet giant" with an "unwavering and reliable presence" by his commanding officer Lt Col Roly Walker.

Guardsman Major's family said their son "was proud to be a soldier and died doing a job he loved" while Cpl Boote's parents said the Territorial Army member, who had volunteered for deployment, was a "wonderful, genuine" only child, "who can never be replaced".

Cpl Webster-Smith's commanding officer, Lt Col Debbie Poneskis, said he was "professional and determined... always the first to volunteer and the last to give up".

The soldier's death in Sangin on Thursday brings the number of UK personnel who have died in Afghanistan since the mission began in October 2001 to 230.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to make what advisers call a "major" speech on the Afghanistan campaign on Friday.

The Politics Show will be broadcast on BBC One from 1200 GMT on Sunday.

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