Three Australian soldiers are in hospital this morning after being shot by a rogue Afghan soldier, just 10 days after three diggers died in a similar attack.

The Afghan National Army says one of its soldiers opened fire from a tower at Charmistan in Uruzgan province on Tuesday afternoon (local time).

Two Afghan soldiers were also wounded.

All five soldiers received non-life threatening wounds and have been taken to the military hospital at Tarin Kot.

The gunman fled the scene of the shooting in an Afghan National Army vehicle.

It is unclear what prompted the attack, and Afghan and coalition forces have sealed off the area to carry out a search operation.

The latest incident comes 10 days after three Australians were killed and seven more wounded by a rogue Afghan soldier in Kandahar province.

It also comes hard on the heels of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s weekend visit to Afghanistan, where she opened a new Australian embassy building and spoke of the “great friendship” between the two countries.

Australian troops are currently training and mentoring some 3,500 Afghan soldiers and are due to hand over control to them by 2014.

But yesterday Defence Minister Stephen Smith signalled that Australian troops, including special forces, would continue to fight in Afghanistan after the 2014 handover.

On Tasmanian Times:
What Afghanis say:
• Get out of Afghanistan
• Get out of Afghanistan …

What Tasmanian Times writers say:
• Max Atkinson
• Scott MacInnes

• Bob Brown

Bring Australian soldiers home safely from Afghanistan

Greens Leader Bob Brown today joined all Australians in wishing the injured soldiers a speedy recovery and urged the Gillard government to bring Australian troops home safely from Afghanistan.

“Unlike the Government or the Opposition, the Greens continue to call for Australian Defence Force personnel in Afghanistan to be brought home safely as soon as possible. A debate will be held in both houses of parliament on 21 November and we will be strongly putting that point of view,” Senator Brown said.

“The Greens propose increased civil aid for Afghanistan to help the people determine their own future,” Senator Brown said.

Some 32 Australian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001 – 11 of those this year – and 212 Australian soldiers have now been physically wounded. Many will suffer long-term mental health issues that require support from their family, friends and communities.

“We should give our courageous defence force personnel a date to work towards, a specified withdrawal date, at the very least,” Senator Brown said.

“The toll is not only rising but accelerating. And to what end? What will be different in 2014 or 2020 and how does a corrupt regime like the Karzai government maintain the faith of an increasingly armed and enlarged Afghan army?”