Terror: 1 Million Pounds for Terror: Thanks to the people who care! Responsibility all around.

British man who launched Isil suicide attack was Guantanamo Bay detainee awarded £1m compensation 

 Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

22 February 2017 • 12:14am

 

A British Islamic State fighter who carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq this week is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was paid £1 million compensation by the government.

Jamal al-Harith, a Muslim convert born Ronald Fiddler who detonated a car bomb at an Iraqi army base near Mosul, was released from the US detention camp in 2004 and successfully claimed compensation after saying British agents knew or were complicit in his mistreatment.
He was freed following intense lobbying by Tony Blair’s Labour government.

Al-Harith, who used the nom de guerre Abu-Zakariya al-Britani, entered Syria via Turkey in 2014 to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, leading to questions at the time about the monitoring of terrorist suspects.

It also raised the possibility that compensation money paid by British taxpayers had been handed on by him to Isil.

Earlier this week Isil released an image of him sitting inside the bomb car grinning broadly, with wires and what may be a detonation button in the background.
A statement released by the terrorist group said: “The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Zakariya al-Britani - may Allah accept him - detonated his explosives-laden vehicle on a headquarters of the Rafidhi army and its militias in Tal Kisum village, southwest of Mosul.”

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 There shouldn't be a question ... it is self-answered ... that money was used for terrorism, to kill innocent human beings.

 

 

 

 

 

The US has never seen a threat this bad.

We are living in precarious times.  If Comey is telling the truth, it says a lot given the CIA's revelations concerning events in 2003 when the US believed an attack on specific infrastructure / cities as very nearly imminent, requiring the US to turn over intelligence to MI6.

Our military has been slashed dramatically, our nuclear stockpile, our navy ... all cut.

And the world's issues have not become less ... more volatility in Syria and a dangerous confrontation with the US /Russia.  In Asia, China and the US - the Chinese government have made war with the US a possible scenario to train for.  Russia is no friend to the US and the feckless 'reset' by Obama/Clinton have not brought us closer ... in fact, we are perilously further apart.  Europe is coming apart, the US is collapsing and will continue to ... and the stability of the world rests not with the feckless UN but with a strong US.

 We face not only al qaida but a still serious threat posed by ISIS, added to the destabilization of mass immigration into the US and the threat of terror on our borders and we are in a far less peaceful and safe world today than in the last thirty years.

TERROR WARNING: Western security facing threat ‘like we have NEVER SEEN’, FBI chief says

THE director of the FBI has warned that Western countries will face an unprecedented threat from a “terrorist diaspora”, even if the US-led coalition crushes the Islamic State.

By Zoe Efstathiou

 

PUBLISHED: 02:12, Wed, Sep 28, 2016 | UPDATED: 04:07, Wed, Sep 28, 2016 

During a US Congress hearing on the terror threat 15 years after September 11, James Comey said that even though America is close to destroying ISIS’ so-called caliphate, militants driven out of the Middle East will settle in other countries in order to commit horrific atrocities.

Mr Comey said: “There will be a terrorist diaspora sometime in the next two to five years like we’ve never seen before.”

Comey said that even though ISIS is being undermined in Syria and Iraq, the threat still continues

He added: “Not all of the Islamic State killers are going to die on the battlefield.”

His chilling predictions were echoed by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Nicholas Rasmussen, director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, who also testified at the hearing.

Mr Johnson warned that terrorist threats have evolved and that previous attacks had to be directed by terrorists, whereas now they are often simply inspired by terrorist ideology and are carried out by individuals acting alone.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says terrorist threats have evolved

He said that that we now live in a world that “includes the threat of terrorist-inspired attacks” as individuals who live in the West become “self-radicalised” and strive to carry out attacks on home soil.

Johnson said that terror threats from self-radicalised individuals pose complex challenges to security as they can occur with little or no notice and are difficult to detect.

It was revealed that the FBI is currently monitoring nearly 1,000 Americans who are believed to have been radicalised by terrorist propaganda.

The Orlando shootings were carried out by self-radicalised terrorist Omar Mateen

Rasmussen warned that even though the US is defeating ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq, the threat post by al Qaeda and its allies remains strong.

Mr Comey noted that ISIS militants present a much greater threat than al Qaeda.

He said that the threat post by ISIS is “10 times that” of al Qaeda, adding: “This is an order of magnitude greater than anything we’ve seen before.”

Israel has no enemies

No nation has said they are at war with Israel.  No army has launched an attack on Israel.

Therefore, Israel's problems all stem from pesky criminals who act in a criminal manner.

Well, that would be true if the Mayor of NY and Governor of NY, and for that matter many other people in government today were right ...



.... they are not.


But, these useless idiots who tell us all is well, nothing to fear, no organized nothing to see, all is well - they aid those who would cause us harm in their ignorance and willful refusal to admit the reality.

15 years ago ...

It was still early morning on Tuesday in Los Angeles, and my mother had the television on in the living room.  She was in the last weeks of her yearly summer visit, and the attacks occurred.

We cannot go back.  We cannot be the same.  It is simply not possible. 

They came, they attacked us, and they demonstrated a coordination we didn't believe they possessed. 

They will come again.  And more Americans will die because we stepped back from what should have been done to those responsible and those who aided and supported the evil-doers. 

It is sad.

In one of his writings, Hilaire Belloc wrote about the barbarians at the gate.  That was 1912.

They are now inside.

Libya

I wish I had more time, but I don't ... despite how critical this issue is.

First nomenclature -

Bob, Robert, Rob are all the same name.  Anyone who goes by Bob is still Robert and vice versa.  Same person, different name.

ISIS - Al Qaida = same ideology, intention, desire, and purpose, comprise of many of the same people who float from one cause to another and the names change.  Same people, same purpose and they are NOT JAYCEE.

An airbase fell in Syria to these barbarians, with our help (you will recall we supported the 'rebels' at the time, against the 'mean and cruel and evil' dictator Assad.  He was sooooo mean, Mr Obama would not stand for any more of his bad behavior.  So, he helped weaken him, to the point where the 'rebels' aka as ISIS or Al Qaida have slaughtered tens of thousands and created a new caliphate or rather, restored the first Umayya caliphate under ... how original ... Abu Bakr.

They took an airbase some time ago - out of which they could fly airplanes that would hurtle toward any European country, thus providing them with something much worse then 9/11.  Why worse?  Because Europeans tend to seek compromise before they are attacked, so imagine if they are attacked .... they would surrender.  In any case, a base taken by these ideologically driven barbarians from which to launch air attacks.  With, in part, the assistance of the US.

Something Obama can be proud of.

Then there is the case of Tripoli.

Over a dozen planes captured by their equivalent of ISIS - a group we armed and trained to topple Khadafi - because he was a "mean and cruel and evil" dictator, and Obama and Cameron had had enough!

In any case, he is gone and al qaida (or whatever name they go by in Libya) have taken control of the Tripoli International Airport along with over a dozen planes.

These planes, from what we have been told are of the Airbus variety, which means they are failure driven even at their best, but ... they have a range between them of 3700 to 6400 miles.  More than enough to fly into all the major European cities and make it to the Eastern coast of the US almost.  Doubtful they could make it to the US because of fuel use and the lack of knowledge concerning flight paths to reduce fuel use .... but they can all certainly make it to Europe ... where our 'allies' would be nearly apoplectic with fear.  I would not be surprised if, at this moment, the European nations have all sent 20+ fighters up to scour their skies, and all radar and air traffic control systems are monitoring any and all movement in the skies.  I am sure many of the leadership class in Europe will, until those 12+ planes are located and destroyed, sleep very uncomfortably.  From Parliament building in London to Buckingham Palace to the Versailles, and the Bundestag ... Europe is littered with targets and ISIS/Al Qaida/ al shabaab are planning.

And ... they have still never found that plane from Malaysia.   It does not look good for Europe.  They lack the will but I suspect when the evil doers finish with their warped plans, Europe will be ready for a new Crusade.


Update:  "Rough men ... visit(ed) violence on those (individuals) and in the dark of night destroyed many of those aircraft. 

Befuddled and Confused: Obama Administration on Parade

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi was not premeditated, directly contradicting top Libyan officials who say the attack was planned in advance.

“Our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous – not a premeditated – response to what had transpired in Cairo,” Rice told me this morning on “This Week.”

“In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated,” Rice said, referring to protests in Egypt Tuesday over a film that depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud. Protesters in Cairo breached the walls of the U.S. American Embassy, tearing apart an American flag.

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So what this woman would have youi believe is -
- all the protests in the Arab world, and in fact, everywhere, are spontaneous.  People in regions without internet or phones, somehow know.  That everyone just plugs into the atmosphere some how and knows. 
- that when people protest in Libya they carry rpg's with them. 
- that trucks of men with weapons routinely show up to protest

And that when the Libyan President said:


"The way these perpetrators acted and moved -- I think we, and they're choosing the specific date for this so-called demonstration, I think we have no, this leaves us with no doubt that this was pre-planned, determined," Magariaf said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"And you believe that this was the work of Al Qaeda, and you believe that it was led by foreigners. Is that what you’re telling us?" CBS host Bob Schieffer asked.
"It was planned, definitely. It was planned by foreigners, by people who entered the country a few months ago. And they were planning this criminal act since their arrival," Magariaf said.

Apparently he didn't know what he was talking about.

And that when US diplomats were warned several days before, the threats were ignored:

 

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Three days before the deadly assault on the United States consulate in Libya, a local security official says he met with American diplomats in the city and warned them about deteriorating security.

Jamal Mabrouk, a member of the February 17th Brigade, told CNN that he and a battalion commander had a meeting about the economy and security.

He said they told the diplomats that the security situation wasn't good for international business.

"The situation is frightening, it scares us," Mabrouk said they told the U.S. officials. He did not say how they responded.

 

and when al-qaida says it carried out the attack in Libya

 

Al-Qaeda said the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was in revenge for the killing of the network’s number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi, SITE Intelligence Group reported Saturday, as Libyan authorities have identified 50 people who were involved in the attack.

 

 

Does Obama know how foolish he looks.  Does he realize how much respect is lost when his administration stares into the face of al-qaida and denies it was responsible.

 

All we need is Biden prancing about.

 

 

 

 

Intelligence Leaking: Obama Style

It was clear from the start that it was someone within the Obama administration who pushed for the information to be released. 

And the reason was purely political.  Real lives and real security issues are at stake, contrasted with the illusion of security when Valerie Plame's name was released and the Left went ballistic and into meltdown mode.

Underwear bomb plot: British and US intelligence rattled over leaks

Leak about UK involvement described as despicable by CIA as anger turns to Obama administration for compromising mission

Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Ian Black, Middle East editor

guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 May 2012 14.26 EDT

Detailed leaks of operational information about the foiled underwear bomb plot are causing growing anger in the US intelligence community, with former agents blaming the Obama administration for undermining national security and compromising the British services, MI6 and MI5.

The Guardian has learned from Saudi sources that the agent was not a Saudi national as was widely reported, but a Yemeni. He was born in Saudi Arabia, in the port city of Jeddah, and then studied and worked in the UK, where he acquired a British passport.

Mike Scheur, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, said the leaking about the nuts and bolts of British involvement was despicable and would make a repeat of the operation difficult. "MI6 should be as angry as hell. This is something that the prime minister should raise with the president, if he has the balls. This is really tragic," Scheur said.

He added: "Any information disclosed is too much information. This does seem to be a tawdry political thing."

He noted that the leak came on the heels of a series of disclosures over the last 10 days, beginning with a report that the CIA wanted to expand its drone attacks in Yemen, Barack Obama making a surprise trip to Afghanistan around the time of the Bin Laden anniversary and "then this inexplicable leak".

Robert Grenier, former head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, said: "As for British Intelligence, I suppose, but do not know, that they must be very unhappy. They are often exasperated, quite reasonably, with their American friends, who are far more leak-prone than they.

"In their place, I would think two and three times before sharing with the Americans, and then only do it if I had to. The problem with that dynamic is that you don't know what you don't know, and what opportunities you might be missing when you decide not to share. The Americans are doing a very good job of undermining trust, and the problem starts at the top."

The name of the British passport-holder has not yet been released but may come out through al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He is reported to have spent time at at language school in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, and been recruited by al-Qaida as a suicide bomber.

Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai told CNN that the bomber had been recruited by the Saudis to penetrate al-Qaida about a year ago, in part because the group would be attracted by the fact that his UK passport meant he could travel to the US without a visa.

"Apparently he was able to convince al-Qaida that he is genuinely ready to carry out the mission," said Alani, who CNN said had been briefed by Saudi counter-terrorism officials. Alani said his understanding was that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) intended the would-be suicide bomber to fly through a Gulf country to connect to a US-bound flight.

The Saudi operation culminated with the agent and another Saudi informant – likely his handler – being whisked out of Yemen, Alani said. "My information is that he was pulled out after the device was handed to him, and they ordered the green light to carry out the operation," he told the US network.

Yemen has been a key target country for the CIA and MI6 in line with the growing strength of Aqap in recent years. But the lead on the ground has been taken by the Saudi intelligence service, the Mabahith, which is best placed to operate in the local environment and exploit links on either side of the border.

Both the US and British intelligence communities are known to work closely with their Saudi counterparts and both have liaison officers permanently stationed in Riyadh and Sana'a.

Aqap moved its operations to Yemen in 2007 after the defeat of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia. The Nigerian "underwear bomber", Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in 2009, was radicalised in Yemen while claiming to be there as a student.

The US, Britain and the Saudis are likely to have preferred their own intelligence operation to co-operation with the Yemeni security authorities, who are anxious to avoid being seen as a western pawn.

Cables released by WikiLeaks exposed the scale of US covert involvement in the Arab world's poorest country. In 2009 the Saudi deputy interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, told General James Jones, President Obama's national security adviser: "The Saudis have been monitoring conversations of al-Qaida operatives in Yemen very closely and whereas before the [recent] attack they were hearing relaxed 20-minute phone conversations over cellphones, after the attack the phones went virtually silent. This suggests that at least for now these operatives are more focused on their own security rather than on planning operations."

Bin Nayef's support for operations against Aqap is unsurprising. He survived an assassination attempt in Jeddah in September 2009 when a Saudi Aqap operative named Abdullah al-Asiri feigned repentance for his jihadi views in a meeting with the prince then blew himself up with a bomb concealed in his anus. Al-Asiri's brother Ibrahim is Aqap's chief bombmaker.

Gregory Johnsen, a US expert on Aqap, pondered on his blog whether the group would now reveal the identity of the undercover agent. "Undoubtedly, Aqap recorded a marytrdom video of the undercover agent before giving him the bomb," Johnsen wrote. "The US and Saudis won't divulge his identity for obvious reasons, but will Aqap?"

obama

Obama and Al Qaida: wishful idiocy

Al qaida is far from dead.  Contrary to the prevailing opinion of the Obama administration, al qaida is not on its last breath and world intelligence services know this.  So often in the US media we hear and read about al qaida all but dismantled. 

That ios simply wishful thinking by Obama and those who feel as he does about the world.  They are wrong and many will pay because of it.

Thankfully, our intelligence services will do what they do and will stop those who try, albeit, they cannot be everywhere all the time and as good as they are (and the world knows how good because they are always complaining about us spying on them) they can't be 100% all the time.

It will not be their failure when it happens, rather a man who believes his vision of the world is accurate and all he needs to do is wish it into fruition and all will be well.  Stupid people believe stupid things and innocent people are harmed.

The war on terror will be a decades long war, long after Obama is out of office and marginalized to the dustbin.

Documentsreveal al Qaeda's plans for seizing cruise ships, carnage in Europe

April 30, 2012|By Nic Robertson, Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, CNN

On May 16 last year, a 22-year-old Austrian named Maqsood Lodin was being questioned by police in Berlin. He had recently returned from Pakistan via Budapest, Hungary, and then traveled overland to Germany. His interrogators were surprised to find that hidden in his underpants were a digital storage device and memory cards.

Buried inside them was a pornographic video called "Kick Ass" -- and a file marked "Sexy Tanja."

Several weeks later, after laborious efforts to crack a password and software to make the file almost invisible, German investigators discovered encoded inside the actual video a treasure trove of intelligence -- more than 100 al Qaeda documents that included an inside track on some of the terror group's most audacious plots and a road map for future operations.

Future plots include the idea of seizing cruise ships and carrying out attacks in Europe similar to the gun attacks by Pakistani militants that paralyzed the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. Ten gunmen killed 164 people in that three-day rampage.

Terrorist training manuals in PDF format in German, English and Arabic were among the documents, too, according to intelligence sources.

More: Details revealed on London bombings | Liquid bomb plot origins

U.S. intelligence sources tell CNN that the documents uncovered are "pure gold;" one source says that they are the most important haul of al Qaeda materials in the last year, besides those found when U.S. Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a year ago and killed the al Qaeda leader.

One document was called "Future Works." Its authorship is unclear, but intelligence officials believe it came from al Qaeda's inner core. It may have been the work of Younis al Mauretani, a senior al Qaeda operative until his capture by Pakistani police in 2011.

The document appears to have been the product of discussions to find new targets and methods of attack. German investigators believe it was written in 2009 -- and that it remains the template for al Qaeda's plans.

Investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash, a reporter with the German newspaper Die Zeit, was the first to report on the documents. One plan: to seize passenger ships. According to Musharbash, the writer "says that we could hijack a passenger ship and use it to pressurize the public."

Musharbash takes that to mean that the terrorists "would then start executing passengers on those ships and demand the release of particular prisoners."

al qaida

Egypt: A big step backward toward darkness

From December 1914 until 1917, Hussein Kamel ruled Egypt.  The three year period was the English Protectorate during World War I.  In 1917, Fuad I became King of Egypt.  He remained on the throne until 1936.  His son Farouk followed and he remained on the throne until 1956 when Gamil Nasser deposed him.  From 1914 until 1956, we have men placed on the throne who were more disposed toward the English than toward Mecca.  They may have been very good Muslims but they were Western-looking not Mecca-looking.

Prior to 1914, Abbas II ruled from 1892 until 1914 - nominally in charge, but again with British oversight and involvement by the Ottoman Empire.  Not religious to any serious degree as understood today.  From 1879 to 1892, Tewfik, father of Abbas II ruled.  Tewfik was generally Western in his outlook, devoting much attention to educational and legal reforms.

From 1879 through 1956, a Western government has been in control in Egypt.  Over 70 years of Western thought and ideas directing Egyptian policy.  Then in 1956, Gamil Nasser and other military officers, staged a coup, deposed the King and seized power.  While there was a confrontation in Egypt, it was between East and West, not between Western and Islamic.  Nasser toyed with the West and with the Soviets and was regardless of all else, Western in his outlook.  Nasser was removed by Sadat who signed a peace agreement with Israel (after a war that went badly for Egypt).  Despite his confrontations with Israel, Egypt was still very much Western in its outlook.  Sadat was murdered in 1981 by the Muslim Brotherhood, members of which went on to join up with al qaida.

Hosni Mubarek took control when Sadat was murdered and maintained control through 2011.  Then came the Arab Spring, which is wrongly named, and was in fact not run by peace-demonstrators, nor by reformers, but was fronted by stooges who would never gain power even though the west was fooled into believing they actually were in charge. 

The power in Egypt then and now is the Muslim Brotherhood.  We pushed for Mubarek to step down and now, what has followed in the last year in Egypt is a hell worse than any Mubarek ever imposed upon Egyptians.  A country that has stopped moving forward and is instead focused entirely on taking its considerable military to war with Israel. 

Today, the only candidates for the Presidency in Egypt are Islamist.  The Muslim Brotherhood will take control of Egypt and its military.  In the next year, the majority of generals serving today will retire and the up and coming officer corp are Islamist.

Egypt is about to take a 1000 year step backward.  After more than 130 years of Western policies, of pro-Western governments (whatever that means in Egypt), the tide is about to shift to a Western hating, Israeli hating, pro al qaida, pro Islamist government that controls the Suez Canal.

The fault for all this is Mubarek's and his government for pushing Egyptians to this point, but it is also a failure of the West to recognize who was really behind the uprisings.  The Brotherhood kept themselves relatively hidden in the beginning.  They said they had no interest in governing.  They wanted freedom and hope, they wanted change and peace ... but all that was a lie and anyone who understood anything about Egyptian history knew this was the case.

Now Mr. Obama, how do you deal with the fallout of losing Egypt to Islamist forces.

How shall you color this game-changer?












Egypt

Al Qaida - Coming Soon!

I tend to believe al qaida more than I do the president.  Not that our president doesn't tell the truth on occasion, but that al qaida doesn't lie.  They don't need to.  That is not to say they will be able to actually carry out an attack, but they certainly will try.  Maybe it's the Obama administration who is working with al qaida to create the chaos that would allow Obama to win again (oh wait, thats what liberals said about Bush and terrorists, and no sane person believed that silliness).

They will try and they must warn - part of their code of honor - before they strike.

 

 

 

Online graphic warns of al-Qaida return to NYC

 

Associated Press – 19 hrs ago

 

NEW YORK (AP) — A mock movie poster warns al-Qaida wants to return to New York City, but authorities say there's no evidence of an actual threat.

Investigators learned about the online amateur graphic on Monday. The graphic shows the Manhattan skyline at sunset with "Al Qaeda" in bold type followed by "Coming Soon Again in New York."

Al-Qaida has been blamed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which destroyed the World Trade Center and killed thousands of people.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne says an overseas, Arab-language Internet site posted the graphic on its "artwork and design" page. He says the NYPD has been monitoring the site.

FBI spokesman J. Peter Donald says the agency takes all threats seriously and "there is no specific or credible threat to New York."










al qaida

The Differences and the Truth

When an American acts contrary to standards that more than 100,000 other military personnel have followed, we apologize, and bring the person to trial.  In many cases, we pay the victims or their families.  We follow Arab custom with blood money or diyat.  It is not because we have to, we don't.  We do it because it saves us trouble - Koranic and later sharia law requires the payment in cases of mistake or accident for a death, and should the amount be paid, the family are koranically prevented from causing any further harm or damage to the offenders.  It is case closed.

We don't see that though.

We see the US forces burning the Koran - riots and protests with deaths occuring result.
We see a US soldier kill 17 - followed by riots and protests and the deaths of scores around the world.

What we see now are Afghan soldiers turn on NATO (and US) forces, claiming they are upholding some honor for the burned Korans and or the murdered families.  As the article points out, the number killed by Afghan killers is almost nearly as high as those killed by the one American soldier, yet no one seeks to repay Americans or NATO for the loss.  It is dismissed as the work of a lone killer, disenchanted with the Americans.

Beguiling as that may be, the truth is preferable.  Those soldiers were either a) put their by al qaida or Taliban, or b) taliban or al qaida approached their families and gave them a choice they could not refuse.

Unlike the mentally unstable American or lone NATO killer, not sanctioned or supported by a society or culture - the Afgahn killer is championed and treated in a heroic manner, albeit dead.  His family, I am quite sure if we could check, received some large payment prior to his death.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17510491

26 March 2012

Gunman shoots dead two UK troops in Afghanistan

A British soldier and Royal Marine have been shot dead by an Afghan army soldier, the Ministry of Defence says.

The gunman also injured a third UK serviceman when he opened fire at the British military HQ in Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.

Nato said he was then shot dead when its soldiers returned fire.

The British soldier was from the Adjutant General's Corps (Staff & Personnel Support). Next of kin of both British servicemen have been told.

'Tragic event'

A total of 407 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since military operations began in 2001.

Announcing the deaths in a statement to the Commons, Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond said: "Our thoughts, as ever, are with their families, for whom this will be a deeply personal tragedy.

"Details of the incident are still emerging but it appears that a member of the Afghan National Army opened fire at the entrance gate to the British headquarters in Lashkar Gar city, killing the two British service personnel.

"The assailant was killed by return fire."

No doubt that Britain and Nato's leadership will want to reaffirm that after this latest incident there will not be a change in policy.

But a recent classified coalition report, obtained by the New York Times, found that between May 2007 and May 2011 at least 58 western service personnel were killed by Afghan soldiers and police in 26 separate attacks.

The report stated that "lethal altercations are clearly not rare or isolated; they reflect a rapidly growing homicide threat".

Could this impact the timetable for withdrawal? When four French soldiers were killed by an Afghan soldier in January, President Sarkozy temporarily suspended his nation's military training mission.

He has also now brought forward the date when French combat soldiers will leave the country - from 2014 to 2013.

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy said the victims were in the "thoughts of all of us".

Spokesman for the UK's Task Force Helmand, Maj Ian Lawrence, said: "The thoughts and condolences of everyone serving in the Task Force are with their families and friends."

Brig Gen Sherin Shah of the Afghan National Army said the attack, carried out by a member of the Fourth Kandak of 3-215 Brigade, was "a tragic event".

"The incident is still under investigation and it is unclear if the action was planned or influenced by the enemy or if he acted alone, either way it is with the deepest regret that two Isaf soldiers who came to our country to provide security are now dead," he said.

"I would like to convey my deepest condolences to the soldiers' families and the British Army and Royal Marines, especially Task Force Helmand, for their loss."

Earlier a spokesman for the governor of Helmand said the shooting followed a "verbal clash" between Afghan and Nato soldiers, and the Afghan involved was from Kunar province.

The Taliban have claimed that the gunman was "their man".

The attack appears to be the latest in a number of "green on blue" incidents - where members of the Afghan security forces turn their weapons on their international colleagues or trainers.

Fifteen Nato military personnel, including eight Americans, have now been killed in this way so far this year.

The number of these incidents has risen since the burning of Korans by US troops at base in February, which President Obama said was a "genuine mistake".

Tensions were inflamed further by the killing of 17 Afghan civilians earlier this month.

US Staff Sgt Robert Bales, 38, has been charged with killing nine Afghan children and eight adults in their homes in Kandahar province on 11 March.

afghan