Five Australian soldiers have been killed, the most in a 24-hour period since the Vietnam War.
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KILLED AT PATROL BASE WAHAB,. ORUZGAN A Lanc•Corporal,40, from the 2nd/l4th LiQht Horse ReQiment of the Queensland Mounted Infantry. A P rivat' 23, from the 6th Battalion Royal Austral'-YI RE!Qitnent. on tvs first o~rational depfoyrreot.
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A Sappa-, 21, from the 2nd Combat EnQineer Rec)iment, on tvs first operational deployment.
KILLED ON BLACK HAWK A Privat' 30, from the Second Commando ReQiment, had completed "severar totXs of AfQharistan
AUSTRALIA'S military has suffered its dark.est day s ince the Vietnam War with the deaths of five soldiers in Afghanistan three of them at the hands of an Afghan ally - dealing a heavy blow to the image of a war being slowly but s urely won. In particular, the shooting of three Australian soldiers by a rogue soldier at a tiny Afghan National Army patrol base - a ..green on blue attack." - will leave a sour taste in the mouths
The government is slowly reducing the number of Australian troops there but will not end the combat role until December 31, 2014, when all International Security Assistance Force troops are due to finish their mission. The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, left early from the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook. Islands yesterday to return to Canber ra for more detailed briefings today on the deaths. She was quick. to reject suggestions the fi\'e deaths might prompt an early Australian withdrawal from Afghanistan. ~we
of Australian soldiers trying to
cannot allow ewn the most griev-
fight the decade-long war. The three soldiers were part of an Australian military mentoring team who travel between bases in Oruzgan training the Afghan army. Two soldiers from the team were also shot but survived. The incident placed immedi· ate pressure on the government to justify Australia's presence in the increasingly unpopulair war.
ous of losses to change our strategy; Ms Gillard said in Rarotonga. ..-In my view that wouJdn't be appropriately honouring the men we have lost In my view that would be letting our nation down. We went there for a purpose and we will see that purpose through.~ The soldiers were part or a team of more than 30 ....ti.owerestaying at the Wahab patrol base - in the
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!~.P.:Y.!!.~..!!~-----IFTHElraqwarbecameknown astheconflictthatbrought the horror of improvised explosive dm<ices tog)obalin[amy, Mghanistanisquidlybecomingthe face of a new and even more insidious form of deadlyviolencethe insider attack.. Known in NATO parlance as
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dra matically this year. So far, 48 NATO troops- including the three Australians k.illed on Wednesday- have died in 31 separate attads.. This month, during Ramadan, 11 USsoldierswere killed in n ine days. The high number represents 14 per cent of all combat fatalities this year and though it is still only August, the figure is already significantly higher than last year, when 3 1 uoopsdied . The numbers are so h igh that
5ome analysts claim they may
attacks in recorded milita ry history. In response, this month the commander ofthelntemational Security Assistance Force, US General John Allen, ordered that all coalition soldiers carry loaded weapons, enm at the larger "secure" bases, inside buildings and at meetings. But theAfghan and US governments- and branches of the US administration- continue to disagree over what has caused the recent surge in attack.s.
Lastweek.theAfghan
Presi-
represents international forces), theattacksha\'e increased
represent the highest incidence of intentional friendly fire
dent, Hamid Kanai, blamed ~foreign colllltries" - a reference
Baluchi Valley about 20 kilometres north or the Oruzgan capital or Tarin Kowt - uaining their Afghan counterparts. Some of the Australian soldiers were standing in an open area of the small base around twilight
when the Afghan soldier, understood to be a relatively new recruit, approached them and fired a sustained burst of automatic fire. He then scaled a wall and, despite being shot at by other Australian troops, fled into
the dark.. Afghan soldiers in guard towers were unable to fire at him. Brigadier-General Zafar Khan, one of the Arghan army's most senior soldi.e rs in Oruzgan, told the Herald the soldier who shot the Diggers was called Hek.-
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woman. But at a meeting this week., she is believed to ha\'e in-
A NS\\i' cabinet minister, Anthony Roberts, and his chief or staff, Tim James, have been accused of "verbally assaulting~ a female staff member for more than two days, resulting in her suffering "severe psychological trauma... The incident, which allegedly occurred last month, has led to the woman's resignation and a threat to sue the s tate of NSW after details were inadvertently made public. The woman, whom the Herald has agreed not to name at her request, reported in June that she "developed severe anxiety disorder when she was verbally assaulted for over 48 hours by her employer and chier of staff". She was certified by a doctor
out d ecisive and co-ordinated attacks, inRictingheavy losses on the enemy both in life and equipment.'" General Allen disagrees with that assessment, saying in a speech at the Pentagon last week. that only a quarter ofgreen-onblue attack.s were caused by Taliban infiltrators. Most stemmed from personal disputes, stress or cultural disagreements, he said. The Pentagon has said the proportionofinftltratorattacbis
11 percenL The President, Barack
and the ADF community share
enemy. Then, they easily carry
Obama, said his administration was deeply concerned about this.
matullah, son of AbduJlah, and was horn the provinceofGhazni. He said: "He has been guaranteed by two people from his district and ... we have sent a delegation to investigate: A Taliban spok.esman said last
night that the soldier was not k.nown to the Taliban. In the other incident, two Australian privates from the 2nd Commando Regiment died when a US Black. Hawk. heJicopter they were on crashed
their anguish and will continue to support them and care for them.~ The deaths are the highest in a 24-hour period since five Australian soldiers were k.illed in Vietnam, on September 21 , 1971. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said yesterday was a "terrible day for our country and a black day for our defence force... with Daniel Flitton
safely enterbases, offices and intelligence centres of the
Under prHSWe .•• Anthony
Roberts has been iCCUsed. manager, Employers Mutual, prepared an injury management plan outlining her claims and subsequent medical treatment. But the plan was mistak.enly attached to an email from a parliamentary human resources executive ad\-ertising a catering position to hundreds of staff.
But the woman's lawyer, Peter Breen, said: " Nothing has been
fonned them she is preparing a
resolved, except the question of
claim against the state, alleging a breach of confidence over the email error. The incident with Mr Roberts, who is the Minister for Fair Trading, and Mr James followed the woman being considered by the Liberal Party for the local government elections next week. She told the Hl!'Tald: "At this stage I ha\re no comment to mak.e. And I would lik.e you to respect my privacy." Responding to the claims of ver bal assault, Mr Roberts said the document outlining the claim had ..been withdrawn and is of no factual nor legal status. The sta tements within it cannot be relied upon". He added that "any allegations
whether it's a claim of defamation or a claim of a breach of confidence. And it has been decided that it's a breach or confidence claim against the state ofNSW." The allegations increase the pressure on Mr Roberts, who was recently embarrassed by revelations that he engaged in factional business during a parliamentary sitting week. Mr Roberts was rei..-ealed to have emailed colleagues urging them to support a controversial push by the Liberal Party's hard right faction, of which he is a member, for changes to the way the party preselects candidates. The disclosure led the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, to declare
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those resrued by Maitland will be sent to Australia for treatment of a shark. bite. As well as highlighting flaws with Indonesia's search and res-
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Manus Island and to implement other measures to discourage people getting on boats. But the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, said the boats would continue to set sail for some time because the policies, which included boosting Australia's intake ofre[ugees and tightening family reunion criteria for boat people, would tak.e some time to hai..-e their full effect. The gm-ernment plans to have the first 500 asylum seek.ers on
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rescue 39 people yesterday even·
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Nauru by the end of nen month
weeks after the incident, accord· ing to a work.place injury report. The work.ers compensation
sentatives or Parliament, which did not im-estigate the matter, have since apologised to the
ment wouJd beunlil.elyto be true and may be defamatory". Mr James declined to comment
no future in my team~, in reference to the former Labor Party powerbroker.
ing and six survivors were pulled from the sea by the crew of the buJk. carrier APL Bahrain. One or
has added urgency to the government's efforts to establish detention camps on Nauru and
and Mr Bowen said people needed to "see planes leaving for Continued Paoe 5
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Priest an ested rather Tom Brennan has become the first Australian Cathotic priest charoed with concealinQ the alleqed child sex crimes of another. rather Breman,74. was charQed yesterday over alleQed offences in the late 1970s. ~ NNs - Paqe3
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while landing in northern Helmand. The men, aged 23 and 30, were veterans of the war. "Australia has lost five men today," the acting defonce chief, Air Marshal Mart Binskin, told reporters in Canberra yesterday. "I cannot begin to describe the O\'erwhelming grief that their families are experiencing but I want them to know that the Anny
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ABOlIT 100 asylum seeters are feared dead and questions are being asked about Indonesia's search and rescue capacity after survivors were discmrered almost 24 hours after they first issued a distress call while only eight nautical miles off the roast of Java. last night authorities reported that 55 survivors had been found among the 150 people believed to be on the boat bound for Christmas Island. The search was being scaled down for the night The crew of the Australian naval ship HMAS Maitland helped
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to Pakistan and lran- forinfiltratingtheAfghan national army and brainwashing vulnerable or disenchanted soldiers. For his Eid message, the Pakistan-based spiritual leader ofthe Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, said his fightershad been instructed to infiltrate the Afghan national army and coerce Mghan soldiers to help attack. coalition troops. "Thank.& to the infiltration of the mujahideen, they are able to
Minister accused ofverbal assault on staff Questions over slow response to asylum seeker distress call ----------- -SlAT[l'OUTICAl.EIKTOll
Inside
Friend or foe? Green on blue attacks raise suspicions
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