Højtstående britisk officer dræbt i Afghanistan

3. Juli 2009 – 07:21
En højtstående brittisk officer er dræbt i en sabotage-aktion mod de udenlandske styrker i det sydlige Afghanistan.
Det britiske militære “Angrebsministerium – som officielt kalder sig “Forsvarsministeriet” og fører krig mod Afghanistans folk på vegne af Storbritannien og Nato – bekræftede at Oberstløjtnant, Rupert Thornloe, kommandant for den Welsh Guard´ens første batalion , blev dræbt i en bombeaktion udført af afghanske sabotører i onsdags.¨
Oberstløjtnant Thornloe var den højst rankede brittiske hærofficer som er blevet dræbt siden krigen i den Persiske golf mod Irak i 1991.

Den dræbte britiske officer , som blev 40 år, havde tidigere gjort tjeneste for de kongelige britiske besættelsesstyrker i Nordirland og Irak og var kommandant for godt et tusind officerer og soldater i Afghanistan.
Under den afghanske sabotage-aktion i Lashkar Gah i Helmand-provinsen blev en anden udenlandsk soldat også dræbt : den 18 årige menig Joshua Hammond.
Dermed er det officielle antal af dræbte i blandt de britiske besættelsesstyrker i Afghanistan siden den USA-anførte invasion i 2001 oppe på 171.

Kilde: Telegrapf >>>>> “http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5725309/Highest-ranked-officer-in-three-decades-killed-in-Afghanistan.html

The Daily Telegraph</em></a>, Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe (pictured on patrol), CO of the 1st Bttn Welsh Guards, has been killed in Afghanistan by an IED.<br /><br />He is the first CO to be killed in action since the death of Lt-Col H Jones of the 2nd Bttn the Parachute Regiment in 1982 at Goose Green in the Falklands War and the highest-ranking British Army officer to be killed in either Afghanistan or Iraq. <br /><br />Thornloe’s death comes less than two weeks after the death of Major Sean Birchall, also of the Welsh Guards. He is the third Welsh Guards officer to be killed on the current roulement, with Lt Mark Evison killed on 12 May after sustaining injuries whilst on patrol outside Check Point Haji Alem in Helmand.<br /><br />The first bare details were reported early Wednesday afternoon by AFP, which <a href=”http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izzATHhgPyhXfKlW3L5Y-lBHOHaQ” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>released details of an incident</a> in which a bomb blast (IED) had killed two and wounded six in southern Afghanistan, bringing to 158 the number of international soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year.<br /><br />It took until mid-morning today for the MoD publicly <a href=”http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/TwoSoldiersKilledInHelmand.htm” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>to confirm</a> what has been known to the media since yesterday – that they were two of ours, “one soldier from 1st Bttn Welsh Guards and the other from 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.” <br /><br />The MoD website, however, makes no mention of Lt-Col Thorneloe or of the injured – although two were very seriously injured, one of whom is “critical”. No other names have yet been given, in accordance with normal practice. Tpr Joshua Hammond of the 2 Royal Tank Regiment has now been named. He was, presumably, the driver. <br /><br />This, according to <a href=”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5720497/Two-British-soldiers-killed-in-Afghanistan-explosion.html” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”><em>The Daily Telegraph</em></a> and others, brings the number of British personnel killed since the start of operations in October 2001 to 171. The explosion, we are told, happened whilst on a deliberate operation near Lashkar Gah, the media informing us that they were taking part in Operation Panther’s Claw.<br /><br />According to <em>The Daily Telegraph</em>, Lt-Col Thorneloe, with the others, was riding in a Viking as it was negotiating a canal crossing. The explosion took out the rear compartment of this articulated vehicle, as well as the tractor. That would bring to eight the number of troops killed in Vikings, with Thorneloe the most senior, regarded as a “high flier” and former aide to defence secretary Des Browne.<br /><br />If the unverified details are correct, then they would seem to reinforce the intelligence <a href=”http://defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/2009/06/road-rage.html” target=”_blank”>coming out of theatre<