Diggers killed at cards
CANBERRA: The Diggers murdered by a rogue Afghan soldier were playing cards in a tent when they were gunned down last Thursday night.
As the caskets of the three slain soldiers and the two commandos killed in a helicopter crash early on Friday morning began their final journey home late yesterday, News Limited learnt details of the cowardly ‘‘insider’’ attack.
The troops had been stood down and were relaxing before bed with a friendly game of poker at two tables when Afghan Sergeant Hek Matullah entered the tent brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle.
Six Diggers were seated table and five at the second.
Sgt Matullah opened fire,
at one
killing his first victim instantly. Two soldiers at the second table stood up and went for their weapons but were shot dead.
Three others were wounded, including one seriously, from other shots fired before Sgt Matullah fled the tent and escaped over the Hesco wall of Patrol Base Wahab, about 20km north of Tarin Kowt.
It is not clear why the ‘‘guardian angel’’ assigned to stand guard over the men did not respond to the attack.
As Governor-General Quentin Bryce and her husband, Michael, made a surprise visit to Al Minhad air base near Dubai yesterday to lead the solemn farewell ramp ceremony for the dead soldiers, task force commander Major General Stu Smith gathered his men and women in a hangar where five photos of the dead men were displayed with a single candle in front of each one.
In the foreground an upturned F-88 Steyr rifle with a helmet and set of dog tags hanging from it and a pair of boots symbolised the fallen men, while a large white cross hung from the wall bearing the words, ‘‘Lest We Forget’’.
Gen Smith told the gathering about each man and about the part they had played in Australia’s mission in Afghanistan.
On the desert tarmac, as the mercury soared above 53C, five caskets draped with Australian flags were slowly carried aboard a RAAF C-17 transport jet past about 500 military personnel and guests.
The nation’s latest casualties from the 10-year-long Afghan war, murdered Diggers Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, 40, Private Robert Poate, 23, Sapper James Thomas Martin, 21, and helicopter crash victims Commandos Lance Corporal Mervyn McDonald, 30, and Private Nathanael Galagher began the long journey home to Brisbane and Sydney via the British Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia.
Three of the caskets went to RAAF Base Amberley near Brisbane and two to Richmond near Sydney, where they will arrive today.