LONDON (AP) — Three British soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan by a man dressed in the uniform of the country’s police force, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.
The ministry said two soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and one from the Royal Corps of Signals were killed Sunday during an incident at Checkpoint Kamparack Pul in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province.
All three soldiers were part of a police advisory team that had visited the checkpoint to conduct a “shura” — a meeting of village elders. Defense officials said in a statement that a man wearing the uniform of the Afghan National Civil Order Police opened fire as the soldiers were leaving the checkpoint. They received first aid at the scene but died from their injuries.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the suspected gunman had been detained.
“We will do everything in our power, with the Afghan National Security Forces, to ensure that justice is done,” Mr. Cameron told lawmakers Monday in the House of Commons.
Officials have not yet named the soldiers. A total of 422 British troops have died in Afghanistan since 2001.
The attack brings the total number of so called “Green-on-Blue” killings involving Afghan security officials attacking NATO allies to 26 in 18 incidents so far this year.
The last Britons involved in such an incident were killed May 12 when two soldiers were shot and killed by two men wearing Afghan police uniforms who turned their weapons against them.
One of the individuals who opened fire was killed when coalition forces returned fire. The second man fled into Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.
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