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Minister defends UK forces' kit | Minister defends UK forces' kit |
(31 minutes later) | |
The UK government has denied troops in Afghanistan are not properly equipped after it emerged a British officer criticised supplies before his death. | |
Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, 39, warned of a helicopter shortage in a memo before he died in a roadside bombing. | |
In response, forces minister Bill Rammell said "no military chief" and "no minister" could guarantee against the loss of life. | |
Lt Col Thorneloe was the most senior British officer to be killed. | |
Mr Rammell told the BBC that advice from the military was that troops did have enough helicopters for the Afghan campaign. | |
"We do not commit troops, and the service chiefs will confirm this, if there is an unacceptable balance of risk," he said. | |
But he added: "That cannot guarantee against the loss of life, because the Taliban have hugely increased their planting of improvised explosive devices. | |
"We cannot succeed in Afghanistan just in heavily-armoured vehicles or in helicopters. | |
"The military will tell you that to win hearts and minds you need boots on the ground - that entails a risk." | |
'Not fit for purpose' | |
Col Thorneloe, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, was killed on 1 July during Operation Panther's Claw, the offensive against insurgent strongholds in Helmand province. | |
Trooper Joshua Hammond also died when their convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED) near Lashkar Gah. | |
In memos sent three weeks earlier and published in Saturday's Daily Mail, he warned his brigade commanders in the UK about a shortage of helicopters in Helmand, and the increased risks posed to British troops. | |
"I have tried to avoid griping about helicopters - we all know we don't have enough," he wrote. | |
"We cannot not move people, so this month we have conducted a great deal of administrative movement by road. | |
"This increases the IED threat and our exposure to it." | |
Col Thorneloe, from Kirtlington, near Oxford, said he had "virtually no" helicopters of the type which would allow him to move troops by air rather than road. | |
He also termed the system used to manage helicopter movements in Afghanistan as "very clearly not fit for purpose". | |
The memos were leaked by an official to Tory MP Adam Holloway, a former officer. |