'Friendly Fire' Probe Into Afghanistan Death

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'Fighter extraordinaire': An investigation has been launched into the death of Kingsman Sean Dawson

A teenage soldier killed in a suspected 'friendly fire' incident told his girlfriend that he was 'really scared' just weeks before he was shot and killed. Kingsman Sean Dawson, 19, died in a gun battle after suspected insurgents were lured into an ambush near Musa Qala in Helmand province on Sunday - just five weeks after landing in the warzone on his first tour of duty.

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An MoD spokesman has confirmed that it is investigating whether he may have been accidentally shot by a comrade. Kgn Dawson - hailed as a 'true Lion of England' and a 'fighter extraordinaire' by friends and colleagues - had been sending regular love letters to his girlfriend, Sadie Adams, since arriving in Afghanistan.

In one moving note he said: 'I've just got off the phone to you and I can't stop crying now I've heard you babe. 'I love you. I am really scared now. 'When I got shot at on Tuesday, the only person that came to me when that happened was you babe.' The ambush in which Kingsman Dawson died was unrelated to Operation Moshtarak, the massive Nato offensive to clear Taliban strongholds.

It comes as Taliban fighters are increasingly using civilians as human shields as Nato forces carry out painstaking house-to-house searches for insurgents. The Royal Military Police are already investigating two possible cases of 'friendly fire' from December - Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard, 22, and Lance Corporal Christopher Roney, 23. Kingsman Dawson, of the 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, went to Afghanistan on January 16 after passing a course to become a sniper.

His devastated family, who have been told of the 'friendly fire' theory, said he had dreamed of joining the Army since the age of six and loved military life. His father Sean, 42, a Royal NAvy veteran, said at their home in Stalybridge, Manchester: 'He completely and utterly believed he should be there, that is all he wanted. 'He was apprehensive and scared and rightly so, but he knew he had a job to do and he was proud to do it.'

But Mr Dawson refused to blame anyone for his son's death. He said: 'I've been in firefights myself and I understand these things can happen when there's two sides of bullets flying. 'I'm not going to sit here and blame anyone because that would be wrong.'

Parents: Sean and Karen Dawson. Mr Dawson insisted his son was proud to fight in Afghanistan

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The teenager had two brothers and three sisters. His last contact with his family was a text message on February 7 saying: 'I'm gonna try ringing you today okay. Love ya.' But the phone network at his UK base disconnected before he could call. Tributes flooded in to Kgn Dawson, with hundreds of people joining a Facebook site in his memory.

His commanding officer, Lt Col Robbie Boyd, mourned one of his 'fittest and finest fighters'. Company Commander, Maj Alan Sweeney, added: 'His quiet manner, ready smile and gentle sense of humour disguised a courageous and unflappable young man.' A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'Early indications suggest that his death was possibly caused as a result of 'friendly fire'. 'This is currently being investigated and no further comment can be made until the inquest.'

A total of 261 UK personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

 

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Kingsman Dawson died after Taliban insurgents were lured into an ambush near Musa Qala

The top Nato commander in Afghanistan, American General Stanley McChrystal, yesterday warned British troops taking part in Operation Moshtarak that they faced 'difficult days' from a Taliban fight-back. UK troops have secured about three-quarters of the former Taliban power base of Nad'e Ali. and reconstruction teams backed by the Afghan government will soon move in.

But General McChrystal, visiting British soldiers, said the battle was not over. Major General Nick Carter, British commander of Nato forces in southern Afghanistan, said U.S. Marines and Afghan troops entering Marjah, the key bomb-making and opium-producing town, were facing sterner resistance. Layers of IEDs had also been laid in their path. He also insisted that a Nato rocket strike which killed 12 Afghan civilians on Sunday had hit the correct target.

Initial reports suggested the two missiles, fired from the back of a truck, had gone astray. But General Carter said they had hit the intended target and it was a 'fair assumption' that insurgents had been killed in the strike - suggesting they had been using innocent people as human shields.

Caution: Nato forces are having to advance much more slowly because Taliban fighters are using civilians as human shields

Danger: Soldiers are being forced to clear layers of improvised explosive devices as they clear out the Taliban

It was also revealed that the first Afghan soldier had been killed in the operation - the biggest joint effort of the war. In total the allies have suffered four deaths. Insurgents are firing at Afghan troops from inside or next to compounds where women and children appear to have been ordered to stand on a roof or in a window, according to General Mohiudin Ghori, the brigade commander for Afghan troops in Marjah.

General Ghori said: 'Especially in the south of Marjah, the enemy is fighting from compounds where soldiers can very clearly see women or children on the roof in a second-floor or third-floor window. 'They are trying to get us to fire on them and kill the civilians.' He added troops have made choices either not to fire at the insurgents with civilians nearby or had to target and advance much more slowly in order to distinguish between militants and civilians as they go. Even with such caution on both the Nato and Afghan side, civilians have been killed.

Nato has confirmed 15 civilian deaths in the operation. Afghan rights groups say at least 19 have been killed.