'I played dead': British soldier tells how he survived gun attack by rogue Afghan policeman who killed five of his comrades

Survivors: Guardsman Steve Loader, left, Lance Corporal Peniasi Namarua, centre, and Guardsman Pete Lyons, right, consider themselves extremely lucky not to be dead.'He only managed to hit me six times. Thank God': Lance Corporal Liam Culverhouse describes that fateful day when a rogue Afghan policeman opened fire

Rare insight: The Cutting Edge documentary features footage of the critical care air support team treating the Grenadier Guards injured in the gun attack

Saviours: The critical care air support team unload stretchers and medical supplies at Camp Bastion after the horrific gun attack

Wounded: Doctors attend to one of the soldiers lying on an air ambulance stretcher

Race against time: Medics treat one of the injured soldiers inside the RAF's C17 Globemaster

Air hospital: The Globemaster at RAF Brize Norton as it prepares to leave for Camp Bastion

To the rescue: The Globemaster arrives at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan to evacuate the wounded

A British soldier wounded when a rogue Afghan policeman gunned down five of his comrades has spoken for the first time about his miraculous survival.

Lance Corporal Liam Culverhouse played dead after the rampaging gunman shot him six times in his face and both arms and legs as he tried to escape.

He described the terrifying moment he heard the footsteps of the gunman pacing over to him to make sure he was dead.

In an interview for a Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary to be broadcast tonight, Lance Corporal Culverhouse said: 'The guy came and checked that I was dead. I heard his footsteps and I could hear dust being kicked away from his feet.

'And then it stopped, and then it went back, so I don't know what he was doing at the time. I know he must have been checking I was dead because he stood over me.

'When I was playing dead, I was thinking he's going to shoot me again, he's going to shoot me again. But he didn't. So, I'm lucky, very lucky indeed.'

The shootings at an Afghan National Police checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province on November 3 last year sent shockwaves through the Nato mission in Afghanistan.

In rare footage, the documentary shows the six soldiers wounded in the incident being flown back to Britain for treatment on board an RAF C-17 Globemaster.

Lance Corporal Culverhouse, who lost his right eye in the attack, said he and his colleagues picked up a 'funny atmosphere' at the checkpoint before the shooting but could not have predicted what happened.

The soldier revealed that the troops were having a competition to see who could catch the most mice when the policeman opened fire.

He said: 'I remember getting hit in the face with something and I remember shouting and swearing.

'I remember saying, "f***ing hell, what was that?" and I covered my face and turned around to see the back of an Afghan, one of the police officers, shooting the lads.'
He added: 'It just all went so fast, and then when he saw me he just basically unloaded a magazine firing at me. He only managed to hit me six times. Thank God.'

Those killed in the shooting were Warrant Officer Class 1 Darren Chant, 40, Sergeant Matthew Telford, 37, and Guardsman Jimmy Major, 18, of the Grenadier Guards, and Corporal Steven Boote, 22, and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith, 24, of the Royal Military Police.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the killings but British military sources suggested it was more likely that the incident was a one-off and unconnected to insurgents. The rogue gunman has never been caught.

The British soldiers had been living and working at the police checkpoint as part of a 16-man team mentoring Afghan officers.
On November 3 they had just returned from a patrol, and had taken off their body armour and were drinking tea with their Afghan colleagues when the policeman - who has been named only as Gulbuddin - opened fire with an automatic weapon.

Another of the wounded British soldiers, Guardsman Steve Loader, of the Grenadier Guards, recalled the horrific scenes.

He said: 'I have never, ever seen so much blood in my entire life, all over the floor, all over me, all over my legs, all over my hands.

'It's lumps of blood. I've never seen lumps of blood before like I did then.
I don't know how we managed to get out of that situation and still manage to be here, all right, talking and walking,' Guardsman Loader said.

'It's hard to explain, I just really do not know how we did it, someone must have been watching over us.

'Because I thought that was it. So many times, at so many points, I thought that was it. I've never been so scared in my life.'

Speaking of his terror as the policeman continued shooting, Guardsman Loader said: 'Every single move that I made, the thought before it was, "what if I do this and I run into him?".
I mean so many thoughts of, "what if I do this, and because of this is the reason that I die today?"

'So there was so much going through my head, my whole body was in overload. I didn't know what to think, didn't know what to do.'

Fijian-born Lance Corporal Peniasi Namarua, of the Grenadier Guards, known as 'Nammers', said he pretended he was dead as the policeman ran around shooting.

The soldier recalled: 'That's when my mind started going about my little one and my wife, and have I done enough you know, with the insurance.'

He added: 'I was the last one to get shot, it's like my fault for not getting the bloke. I feel guilty for not doing anything.

'You know, I should have killed him. I should have killed him that day.'

Guardsman Pete Lyons, also of the Grenadier Guards, who was shot in the hand, said: 'You know it's just luck of the draw, whether it's you or not. And this time I got lucky.'