The Defence Force has released dramatic footage of a firefight which killed two Kiwi soldiers in Afghanistan in 2012.
Footage captured on a soldier's helmet cam during
the August 4 exchange was released to media at a press conference in
Wellington this afternoon.
The Defence Force has called the firefight "biggest incident since the Vietnam War".
The court of inquiry report into the deaths of five
New Zealand soldiers in two incidents two weeks apart was released today
and confirmed all were killed by Taliban insurgents, rather than
friendly fire.
Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer, 26, Lance Corporal
Rory Malone, 26, Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda
Baker, 26, and Private Richard Harris, 21, were killed in two separate
incidents in and around Bamyan province two weeks apart.
The report recommends more training in processing
bodies after a live hand-grenade was found in the body of one of the
three soldiers who returned to Christchurch Hospital following the
second incident.
Chief of the Army Major General Dave Gawn called the
firefight on August 4 which killed LCpls Durrer and Malone the biggest
firefight the New Zealand Army has been involved in since the Vietnam
War, excluding special forces.
The report says it "would have been impossible" for
LCpl Durrer to have been shot by another NZ soldier, based on the
positions of the Provincial Reconstruction Team during what it called
"an intense and chaotic firefight".
LCpl Malone was fatally shot by a 7.62mm round
commonly used in AK47s by insurgents. It also says two soldiers injured
in the August 4 firefight hit by friendly fire was avoidable because
there was “inadequate situational awareness” during the incident.
Maj Gen Gawn would not say which body the live
hand-grenade was inside because he says it was not relevant. He says the
grenade had not been picked up by a visual check and there were no
X-ray machines at the Afghanistan base where the bodies were processed
to check for anything left in or on the bodies. More training was needed
in this area, he says.
All five soldiers were from Burnham Military Camp in Canterbury.
In April this year the last contingent of the New
Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) arrived back in the
country, ending a decade-long deployment in Afghanistan.
The fatal firefight
LCpls Durrer and Malone were just three months into
their deployment when they were killed by gunfire in an insurgent attack
on a small village in Bamyan province on August 4. Six other New
Zealand soldiers were injured during the attack - three were wounded
badly and three suffered moderate injuries.
Four of the injured were hit by insurgent fire,
while two were "most likely" injured by friendly fire from a Light
Armoured Vehicle (LAV) shell, the report concluded.
The friendly fire situation arose from "inadequate situational awareness", the report says.
"The early loss of senior patrol commanders further
diminished the New Zealander's situational awareness […] Against this
backdrop it is not accepted that friendly fire incidents are inevitable,
but they are understandable."
The causalities were evacuated by the US Army Aero-medical Evacuation about 600 metres from the site of the firefight.
Maj
Gen Gawn says one of the soldiers injured by friendly fire, named only
as Soldier F in the report, had since left because he was dissatisfied
with the army. The soldier had struggled to come to terms with the
incident, he says.
"We have supported him all the way through and he has chosen to leave the service at this time."
The
report says buddy aid and battlefield medical care given to two of the
injured soldiers "significantly reduced the risk of death for both of
these casualties".
Task Unit CRIB 20 was
adequately prepared and trained and there was no evidence that lack of
training contributed to the injuries sustained, the report says.
However,
though the level of pre-deployment training the CRIB 20 contingent was
adequate, it "lacked realism and complexity" compared to the situation
they faced on August 4.
The IED attack
On
August 19, Cpl Tamatea, LCpl Baker and Pvt Harris were killed by an
improvised explosive device (IED) in the northeast of Bamyan province.
The
incident occurred northwest of Do Abe, on the road to Romero, when the
last vehicle in a convoy was hit by the IED. The other troops in the
patrol then secured the location and waited for additional support.
As
the remains of the three bodies were processed by the pathologist at
Christchurch Hospital, a live hand-grenade and two 9mm rounds were
discovered.
Maj Gen Gawn says admitted people
were in danger during the transportation of the bodies from Afghanistan
because of the grenade, but says it still had its safety pin in place.
The report says "it would have been desirable" to X-ray the remains before they left theatre.
"However in the absence of suitable X-Ray equipment a physical search would have been required."
This
was against standard operating procedure which currently requires
bodies to be disturbed as little as possible before a post-mortem, Maj
Gen Gawn says.
The report noted "real gaps" in the level and quality of the Army's mortuary affairs.
It
says the three bodies were processed as best as possible "given the
tactical situation, resources available and the state of the remains".
The
pouch the grenade was in was not visible on the body and the US
Mortuary Facility in Afghanistan did not have an appropriate X-Ray
machine available.
It says the Defence Force
would work with pathologists, the police and the coroner to review its
procedures to reduce the risk of repeating the situation.
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