Lieutenant Colonel Rob Thomson led his battle group in Afghanistan, and he led those who survived back to London yesterday, ending one of the bloodiest tours of duty in recent British military history.
Twenty-three soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles battle group died under his command and another 80 were wounded. Eleven suffered life-changing injuries, such as amputations or the loss of eyesight.
The survivors followed Thomson as he headed a parade through the streets of Croydon today. And those that were killed, Thomson felt, were behind him still, in spirit at least.
Thomson said the group’s six months in the region had exacted “a heavy cost” as his troops had struggled to secure Sangin and the surrounding area. But he added: “I see every one of those killed standing behind me and telling me to keep going and hold the baton high.”
In the face of growing public concern at the rising British death toll in Afghanistan, he praised the “extraordinary heroism” of his troops and said their sacrifice had not been in vain.
The battalion bore the brunt of an escalating campaign by the Taliban this summer using improvised explosive devices. Five men were killed in a single “daisy chain” bomb attack on 10 July.
Lieutenant Alex Horsfal, 26, commander of the platoon that was hit that day, lost a leg and damaged his hand and was today reunited with friends he had not seen since then. They surrounded his wheelchair as they prepared to march from the Territorial Army centre.
Along with Rifleman Jack Otter, 21, who lost an arm and both legs, Horsfal was one of several amputees to join the parade.
Friends and family of Rifleman Daniel Simpson, a 20-year old father who was killed when the Taliban detonated secondary bombs aimed at stretcher bearers carrying casualties from an initial blast, also attended.
With its combination of marching music and pauses for silence, the parade was equal parts remembrance service and heroes’ welcome.
Hundreds lined the North End shopping street in Croydon, waving union flags and cheering as 100 representatives of the battle group marched in quick time through the streets to a military brass band.
“I support them totally, but I think they should withdraw because I don’t see what good they are doing out there,” said Sue Clarke, 55, a chef who took a break to welcome them home.
Dressed in their desert fatigues and green berets, the troops came to a halt in front of the HMV record shop and stood to remember their fallen comrades. Regardless of their youth – and some were as young as 19 – their often drawn and pale faces told of the stress and trauma of the daily battles with the Taliban in 40C temperatures. The band struck up again and to proud cheers from the crowds the soldiers marched towards a reception at Fairfields Hall where their relieved families and a table groaning under pints of beer awaited them.
Thomson said the dead who were not able to march alongside them had left “a hole in our hearts”, but he said the battle group left Sangin a better place than they found it.
“For me, progress in Sangin has not been dramatic, but we have moved forward, indelibly so,” he said. “Security in the heart of the town has improved, Afghan governance has improved, the bazaar has got bigger, the Afghan army has opened a new patrol base which has reduced the enemy’s freedom to operate and the enemy has come off second best on countless occasions.”
He said his troops had removed six Taliban roadside bombing teams since 23 July.
“The commitment, courage and sheer grit of every man in the battle group has been humbling,” he said. “In extraordinary times, extraordinary men and women have, day in, day out, done extraordinary things for the good of our nation and for the benefit of the impoverished people of Afghanistan. Some as young as 18 have taken the fight to the enemy in some of the most arduous and demanding situations faced by British soldiers for a generation.”
Horsfal told how he had spent more than three months in Selly Oak military hospital in Birmingham and at Headley Court military rehabilitation centre in Surrey before rejoining his troops today.
“What we have managed to achieve is fantastic, although casualties have been fairly high and it’s been a tough tour,” he said.
He described how he sustained his injuries on the battlegroup’s bloodiest day on a mission which involved meeting the Afghan army “to show the locals we were working well together and the Afghan security forces were able to look after their own country”.
“I’ve got to say that the general public have been awesome,” he said. “The change has been in the last few years. The understanding and the sympathy felt towards the army, and especially those who have been wounded, is phenomenal.”
The mother of a teenage soldier killed in Iraq broke down yesterday as she told an inquiry she wanted Tony Blair to be held to account for the “illegal war”.
Anne Donnachie, whose son Rifleman Paul Donnachie was killed in Basra in April 2007, was among a number of families addressing the Iraq inquiry committee at a regional meeting in Bristol.
Earlier this month in a similar meeting in London, Sir John Chilcot, the committee chairman who had invited the bereaved families to tell him the issues they believe he should focus on, was left in no doubt what they wanted investigated – legality, equipment and the role of Blair.
Yesterday it was the turn of Donnachie to add her voice to the growing clamour for accountability, as committee members Sir Roderick Lyne, Sir Lawrence Freedman and Sir Martin Gilbert looked on.
Accompanied by her husband James, she wept as she made her plea. Echoing the sentiments expressed earlier in the hearing by the family of Territorial Army soldier Corporal Dewi Pritchard, who was killed in Basra in 2003, she said: “I lost my son and he was only 18, and I blame Tony Blair.”
Donnachie, from Reading, Berkshire, who served with 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed by small arms fire during a routine patrol in the Ashar district of Basra City on 29 April, two years ago, during one of the worst periods of fighting in the area since the start of the conflict.
Pritchard, 35, from Rhondda, south Wales, was one of three military police officers who died when their civilian 4×4 vehicle was ambushed by gunmen.
His uncle, Brynley Pritchard, spoke on behalf of his family, including the soldier’s father Tony, who also attended.
He told the committee: “We believe the war on Iraq was wrong and unlawful. The UK and US could not justify getting it past the UN because of vetoes by other member countries.
“So we believe a conspiracy was formed by Tony Blair and President Bush to invade Iraq under the pretence that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and was preparing to use them against other countries of the world.
“We believe the true reason for the war was to protect the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, and was therefore motivated by greed. The protection of the oil fields could have been done by the UN and this could have saved 179 British personnel, numerous United States personnel and countless Iraqi civilians.
“Mr Blair should be taken to task by the UK judicial system for lying in parliament.”
Relatives of Private Phillip Hewett, 21, of 1st Battalion the Staffordshire Regiment, Royal Marine Paul Collins, 21, with 847 Naval Air Squadron, and Prince William’s friend 2nd Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, 24, attached to 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, all attended.
The inquiry’s meetings with 50 of the bereaved families will end in Belfast next Wednesday. In addition to Bristol and London, it met in Edinburgh and Manchester. The investigation will also seek the views of current and former serving personnel.
Following his initial meeting with the bereaved, Sir John promised them that their views would “help inform the structure of the inquiry and the lines of questioning to witnesses.”
A British soldier serving with the special forces is facing war crimes charges after threatening to shoot dead a Taliban prisoner during interrogation unless he co-operated, it has been reported.
Officers from the Royal Military Police’s special investigation branch have launched a probe into the incident which allegedly took place in Helmand Province in August, The Sunday Telegraph said.
The region has seen some of the British Army’s bloodiest fighting, with 19 deaths alone during the month and many more injured.
According to the paper, the soldier in question holds the rank of lance corporal, is 25 and is a trained Pashto interpreter. He was serving with the special forces group, which has suffered a number of casualties.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence was unable to comment on the allegations.
The Sunday Telegraph said the incident allegedly took place in a forward operating base in Helmand after members of the special forces captured several suspected Taliban gunmen thought to have been responsible for carrying out improvised explosive device attacks against British troops.
When one of the suspects refused to answer questions, the British interpreter is said to have drawn his pistol, cocked it and pushed the prisoner’s head down on to the table.
He then allegedly pressed the gun into the back of the suspect’s head and said in Pashto: “Answer the questions or you’re dead.”
The soldier – who was reported to have been arrested last week – faces trial by court martial if charged, and a possible custodial sentence if found guilty.
Threatening prisoners of war with violence is in breach of the Geneva Convention, and is also defined as a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act.
An al-Qaeda fanatic brandishes a giant razor-sharp blade in a pose intended to scare British and US troops in Afghanistan.
The knife is too cumbersome to use in battle – but could behead or dismember any hostage his terror group grabs.
The insurgent, also seen sitting with an AK47 rifle, belongs to one of Osama Bin Laden’s “foreign legions” fighting in Afghanistan.
He appears in a new terror video posted online and vows to use the huge blade to achieve a victory for Islam.
The bearded thug was identified as “Abu Askar the German”.
Last night a military source warned: “If anyone needed reminding, this is the face of the enemy.”
Terrorism expert and author Chris Dobson said: “The bloodthirsty threat of Abu Askar the German and his giant cleaver is plain – anyone who opposes us will lose their heads. Fanatical Islamic Jihadists have a record of beheading captives and boasting about it to cause fear among their enemies.
“Abu Askar and his knife are undoubtedly part of the ‘war of the mind’ the Jihadists are waging against the West.
“But they also reflect a growing confidence, especially among home-grown terrorists, that the West is becoming vulnerable.”
A message with the video says Askar belongs to a terror group closely allied to al-Qaeda. It is known to hide out in the lawless Pakistan border region and cross into Afghanistan to launch attacks against British and US forces.
Askar boasted that the terrorists have attracted recruits from all over Europe as well as from Russia and China.
Britain’s Army commander, General Sir David Richards, has sounded the alarm over any possibility of losing the war in Afghanistan to men like Askar.
He said: “Failure would have a catalytic effect on militant Islam because the message would be that al-Qaeda has defeated the most powerful alliance in the world.”
KUALA LUMPUR 24 Sept. – Sebuah empangan yang terletak berhampiran ladang ternakan di kawasan Lembah Sungai Tua Ulu Yam dekat sini pecah malam tadi dan menghanyutkan timbunan sampah dari pusat pelupusan sampah berdekatan sehingga memenuhi ladang berkenaan.
Kejadian itu menyebabkan lebih 300 ekor lembu dan kambing milik dua penternak terperangkap apabila kandang haiwan ternakan itu dinaiki air dan dipenuhi sampah.
Lebih 100 ekor lembu dan kambing lemas dalam kejadian berkenaan menyebabkan kedua-dua penternak berkenaan kerugian kira-kira RM500,000.
Salah seorang penternak itu, Mohd. Sharif Gulam berkata, kejadian itu menyebabkan 50 daripada 200 ekor lembu ternakannya mati lemas dan ada yang masih hilang.
“Anggaran kerugian yang saya alami adalah kira-kira RM250,000 termasuk kemusnahan kandang dan bahan makanan ternakan,” katanya ketika ditemui pemberita di sini hari ini.
Menurutnya, kejadian itu diketahuinya apabila dia mendapat panggilan dari seorang pekerjanya.
Dalam kejadian kira-kira pukul 8.50 malam tadi, empangan itu pecah dipercayai disebabkan pelanggaran sampah yang bertimbun hampir 100 meter tinggi di kawasan pelupusan sampah Sungai Kertas yang terletak bersebelahan empangan berkenaan.
Mohd. Sharif berkata, sebanyak 150 ekor lembu ternakannya yang selamat memerlukan tempat penjagaan yang sempurna dengan segera untuk mengelakkan haiwan itu mati dan terkena jangkitan penyakit.
Beliau menggesa Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) menyiasat tempat pelupusan sampah tersebut yang dipercayai beroperasi secara haram.
“Tempat pelupusan itu telah beroperasi secara haram sejak sekian lama, namun pihak berkuasa tidak mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya,” katanya.
Sementara itu, Presiden Persatuan Penternak Ruminan Negeri Selangor, Samad Kassim meminta kerajaan negeri, pihak berkuasa dan MPS memberikan bantuan kepada penternak terlibat dan menjalankan siasatan
