Hunt for Afghan soldier who murdered UK troops

A rogue Afghan soldier is on the run after murdering three British troops and wounding another four.

The killer launched his attack on soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles at a base in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan early on Tuesday morning.

He shot one dead in his sleeping quarters and killed the other two in the base's command centre using a shoulder-mounted rocket-propelled grenade launcher, sources said.

The Ministry of Defence described it as a "suspected premeditated attack". The soldiers' families have been informed.

A manhunt is under way after the murderer fled following the carnage at the joint patrol base near Helmand's provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, at about 2am local time.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai sent a letter of condolence to Britain offering his apologies for the incident, which came as a blow to the Nato mission to build up Afghanistan's police and army.