Increasingly Hostile

Diggers demand shoot-to-kill policy

By Peter Michael

June 30, 2008 04:00am

AUSTRALIA'S frontline troops are urging a new shoot-to-kill policy as they confront an increasingly hostile enemy in the war on terror.

Diggers in Afghanistan are facing a rising risk of casualties as they advance into enemy territory.

Defence chiefs have been urged to change the rules of engagement and allow frontline troops to take on the enemy instead of "waiting to be shot".

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans warn Australian ground forces need a more aggressive shoot-to-kill policy to counter an upsurge in hostility by Taliban insurgents in the dangerous Oruzgan province.

"The way it is now is we've got to accept the first shot, and survive the hit, before we can shoot to kill the enemy," said one senior army officer.

Defence officials are considering changes to orders for opening fire but are fearful of a public relations disaster of mass Afghani civilian casualties or a rising body bag count.

Australian troops are facing further danger as they enter the "fighting season" of the summer.

Five Australian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, including four since October.

Intelligence reports show the rising threat comes from a dangerous mix of warlords linked to the opium poppy trade, and Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters regrouping and switching to suicide bombing tactics.

A Defence Department spokesman said Australian forces deploy with a robust - but classified - set of Rules of Engagement (RoE).

"(They are) designed to minimise loss of life and for Australian soldiers to defend themselves and those they have been authorised to protect," he said.

Australian Defence Association executive director Neil James said warfare was dynamic and the RoE would change with the situation on the ground.

He said the complexity was in "shooting the ones causing the insecurity not the ones they are hiding behind".

"Often we are fighting people who hide among the civilian population, and who have no qualms in using them as human shields," he said.

"Our soldiers have been very good with restraint and have got to be admired for the low numbers of civilians caught in crossfire."

Australia has a 400-strong Reconstruction Taskforce in Afghanistan as well as special forces operatives.

A further 300 Australian personnel are in Iraq, including the 110-member security detachment guarding Australian diplomats in Baghdad.

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