Blood feud was behind Afghan machine gun massacre, inquest into death of Prenton soldier Steven Boote told

May 18 2011

A WIRRAL soldier was gunned down as a vendetta between an Afghan policeman and a Taliban commander raged, an inquest heard.

Corporal Steven Boote, 22, of Prenton, was one of five British soldiers killed when the rogue Afghan gunman opened fire on November 3, 2009, at a police checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali, in Helmand Province.

An inquest into his death and those of Warrant Officer Class 1 Darren Chant, 40; Sergeant Matthew Telford, 37; and Guardsman Jimmy Major, 18, all from the Grenadier Guards; and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith, 24, from the Royal Military Police, began in Wiltshire yesterday.

It heard a dispute over land between the commander of checkpoint Blue 25, a member of the Afghan National Police, and the Taliban commander controlling the area became a "blood feud" which spiralled out of control.

Giving evidence, Lt Col Charles Walker, commander of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, said: "I think there was an element of blood feud, which is a cultural practice."

Explaining his decision to send troops to man the checkpoint, Lt Col Walker said the Taliban began to capitalise on complaints from villagers.

He added: "One of the principal grievances which came clear was the police at checkpoint Blue 25. There were a number of allegations about corrupt policing, improper policing and heavy-handedness, such that the way the police were behaving was encouraging the villagers to support the Taliban.

"The Taliban were able to support that, saying ‘we can do a better job than the police’.

"You had this checkpoint commander playing out a blood feud against a local Taliban commander and it was being played out among this village."

The inquest heard the soldiers had just returned from patrol and had taken off their body armour to drink tea with their Afghan colleagues in the compound when the suspect, named only as Gulbuddin, opened fire from the roof of the checkpoint with a machine gun and fled.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the murders and some reports suggested Gulbuddin escaped to join them, but military sources have suggested the attack was probably unconnected to the insurgents.

A preliminary hearing in February heard the taking of opium and cannabis was commonplace among the ANP, including those being mentored by British troops.

The inquest continues.