UK soldiers ‘shot villager’

The commander of the British Army Training Unit in Kenya is under investigation over a shooting incident in which a Kenyan was injured.

The civilian, who has not been named, is understood to have no life-threatening injuries.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Royal Military Police Unit is looking into the allegations involving a senior officer. Col Hutton has been suspended after shots were allegedly fired at Kenyans who had strayed into a training ground.

“We can confirm that a serving officer is being investigated following a shooting incident in Kenya, which may have injured a local civilian. It is inappropriate to comment further while the investigation is ongoing,” said the ministry.

According to the Daily Mail newspaper in the UK, at least one warning shot was fired to scare off a group of Kenyans on March 17, 2010, after a spate of thefts at the base.

The commander is responsible for putting 3,500 British troops a year through an arduous training programme high on the plains of Kenya.

The training unit’s role is to prepare service personnel in an environment similar to Afghanistan. Three infantry battalions a year spend six weeks taking part in the so-called Exercise Grand Prix to hone their skills before their deployment to fight the Taliban.

This allows troops to carry out live firing as well as experiencing a variety of climates, ranging from hot and dusty plains to rain forests.

Daily Telegraph said one of the men was admitted to hospital with a bullet wound he claimed was inflicted by British soldiers.

The group said they were herdsmen who had wandered onto the training ground by mistake.

Col Hutton was awarded a CBE for his work in Afghanistan in the March 2009 operational honours list.

The incident comes just days after the horrendous atrocities committed by British forces during the 1952-1962 Mau Mau uprising were revealed.

Boxes of previously undisclosed documents, stored by the Foreign Office, have been unearthed during research into the claims.

They record the methods employed to defeat the rebellion and government awareness of abuses.

The details have begun to emerge through government reports documenting “systematic” torture, starvation and even the burning alive of detainees.