TALEBAN fighters used women and children as human shields as they tried to escape into the mountains of Afghanistan, British troops claimed yesterday. The tactics were revealed in the first account by those who fought in one of the main battles faced by the men of 3 Para and the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are stationed. The Taleban’s use of human shields happened during a six-hour battle that began when British troops arrived in a remote area to flush out a suspected Taleban hideout. They came under attack seven times and fired 2,000 rounds as the rebels set ambushes and opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades. About 21 Taleban were killed. “It happened twice where they pushed women and children in front of them. The first time they ran into a compound and pushed them out the front to stop the assault,” said Corporal Quintin Poll, 29, from Norfolk. “The second time they were firing through a building with women and children inside. My guys had to go around the left and right to get them.”
Details of the battle, which happened to the west of the town of Nauzad on June 4, were given by troops at the British base of Camp Bastion. It took place in the run-up to Operation Mountain Thrust, in which 11,000 troops from Britain, US, Canada and Afghanistan are co-operating to clear Taleban strongholds in the province. The fighting began after British troops were sent to the area to search compounds suspected of housing Taleban militants. A 12-vehicle convoy that had snaked its way through the mountains from Camp Bastion came under attack after leaving a police compound in the town.