Welcome news; Afghan traitor shot dead.

Image: Australian soldier Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, who was shot dead by a rogue Afghan soldier in Afghanistan.

Every battle casualty is a tragedy, but to have troops murdered by the very people they are attempting to train and protect is galling. Lance Corporal Jones was shot in cold blood when another Afghan soldier left for a few minutes, leaving him alone with the killer. He has now been tracked down and killed:

UPDATE 4.05pm: THE cowardly Afghan soldier who murdered army cook Lance Corporal Andrew Jones has been shot and killed by coalition forces.

Shafidullah Guhlamon was cornered by coalition troops near his home village in the Khost Province of eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border and told to surrender.

He refused and drew a weapon and was killed by the joint American-Afghan International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith confirmed Shafidulla's death today, saying he was killed by a coalition special forces operation with "limited Australian involvement".
Mr Smith said Shafidullah had "placed himself in a position where he was a direct threat to coalition forces and was shot dead as a result".

He said it would have been preferable if the murderer had been captured so he could have been interrogated, and that the investigation into the causes and reasons behind the death of Lance Cpl Jones would continue.

Shafidullah's brother, who was with him when he was shot dead, has been detained by US forces and will be questioned.