UK Soldier 'Posed With Dead Taliban Fighter'

By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent

The RAF has launched a probe after photographs surfaced appearing to show a serviceman posing with a dead Taliban fighter.

The pictures were apparently taken in the wake of an attack by 15 insurgents on Camp Bastion, the main British base in Afghanistan, in September 2012.

The insurgents breached the perimeter of the base, triggering a battle involving a British RAF regiment and US marines.

Two of the marines and 14 Taliban fighters were killed in the firefight, and UK troops were also injured.

The two photographs appear to show at least one member of the RAF giving a thumbs-up sign as he kneels next to the body of a dead insurgent.

The photos were taken after an attack on Camp Bastion in 2012

It is unclear if it is the same serviceman in both of the photographs.

Sky News has learned that the individual or individuals belong to 51 Squadron.

An RAF source said he was making "no excuses" for the behaviour but said it was important to consider the context.

"This was a long, extensive firefight against a well-drilled, well-armed enemy who was trying to kill them," the source said.

He spoke of the "heat of conflict", the "relief of victory" and the "unusual adrenaline fuelled situation" in which "foolish" things happened.

Camp Bastion is the main British base in Afghanistan

The investigation will focus on whether the airman broke the rules by "mistreating" the enemy.

They may also be reprimanded for simply having and using photographic equipment.

Another photograph shows a burned-out plane in a hangar - six US Harriet jets were destroyed in the attack.

The images first appeared on the website Live Leak.

An RAF spokesman said: "Inappropriate actions will not be tolerated in the armed forces.

"The RAF is treating this incident extremely seriously and has launched a military police investigation.

"As this incident is subject to an ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

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Putin Condemned For Marking Victory In Crimea

Hague's Whirlwind Diplomatic Tour Of Europe

Updated: 12:47am UK, Saturday 10 May 2014

By Tim Marshall, Diplomatic Editor

When you travel with the Foreign Office, you travel at speed.

Foreign Secretary William Hague lives his working life in blocks of time allocated according to timetables, worked out by staff, who liaise with their counterparts around the world.

For his trip around Eastern Europe they had arranged 21 meetings in four countries over four days.

To achieve that they had chartered a 13-seat charter jet. It's expensive, but the RAF planes sometimes used by government officials were unavailable or didn't have the range required.

The view was that if they travelled on scheduled flights they couldn't make all the meetings.

On board were the Foreign Secretary, several advisors, his private secretary, security men, and a two-person Sky News team including cameraman Pete Milnes.

We were inside what is called "The Bubble".

On Monday the first call was to Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where we were met by various government officials and whisked into town in an eight-vehicle convoy, with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

The trip was about signalling to the countries he visited, but also to Russia. The message was that the UK will support Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.

Britain sent a similar but stronger message to the Baltic States and Russia when it flew four fighter jets to Lithuania last month, but they are Nato members. On this tour he only had political and economic weapons at his disposal.

For the Moldova leg he had penned an article for a leading newspaper and acknowledged to Sky News that is was written for two audiences.

"You have to get through to the publics of the countries you visit, but you also know that the Russians are reading it ... Moscow needs to understand that there is a long-term price for violating the sovereignty of other nations," he said.

After a series of meetings, Mr Hague was back in his vehicle and preparing to return to the airport.

At this point it is essential all 13 of us, and the 30-odd pieces of kit and luggage, are all ready to move because the only people the convoy will wait for is the Foreign Secretary and his security detail.

After each meeting there is a flurry of activity with people throwing bags into cars, which occasionally might even be moving.

We get back to the plane and head for Vienna.

On board the protocol is that on the rare occasions a reporter is travelling with the Foreign Secretary he or she sits at the back, thus allowing the diplomats to spend the flight time working and talking privately.

Their area is for the duration of the flight their private office. Occasionally the Foreign Secretary will come back for a chat.

This is usually a mixture of everyday pleasantries, light humour over an incident which may have occurred at the previous location, and genuine insights into aims and strategies of HMG.

At dusk we land in Vienna and are two-thirds of the way through a 15-hour day.

In the Austrian capital the following morning Mr Hague attends the Council of Europe meeting on the Ukraine crisis.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is present, but there is no meeting of minds.

Back at the airport the Foreign Secretary meets the acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister who is hitching a lift to Ukraine.

Mr Hague jokes: "We've thrown someone off to make room." He then takes the rare opportunity to spend the 90-minute flight to Kiev for a proper and private conversation with his opposite number.

When we arrive there is moment of light comedy.

The Minister, Andrii Deshchytsia, gets off first, followed immediately by Mr Hague, before the Ukrainian turns around, and as protocol demands, shakes hands with Mr Hague and welcomes him to his country.

The Bubble moves into Kiev where the Ukrainian Acting Prime Minister is in his own bubble which is running five minutes late.

For the first time in two days things slow down. We wait in a huge meeting room with the UK diplomats chatting to each other in a relaxed manner before the Prime Minister arrives and its back to business.

The following day the convoy passes the Ukrainian revolution The Maidan where most of the fighting during the winter took place. It's a reminder of just how serious the trip is.

Back on the plane I ask the Foreign Secretary what his favourite part of the job is and he replies: "It's knowing that we are not dealing with trivial stuff here. This matters, and it matters what we do."

On to Georgia, a country where a lot of people have long names, which for a native English speaker can present difficulties.

I ask Mr Hague if he ever forgets anyone's name.

"No, but then I've usually got people's names written down and I have a team of people to help me.

"If you are unsure, then the first thing you do when you land is ask the ambassador to take you through names and pronunciations."

Tbilisi is an attractive city with excellent wine and food, but Mr Hague can't concentrate on the architecture due to work, and says he's learned over the years not to enjoy the food too much.

Most meetings involve at least coffee and biscuits, and more usually a meal at which the host will pile up every local delicacy as a way of showing off their country's food.

Towards the end of day four we end up back in London after a five-hour flight. During the flight, the Foreign Secretary was slightly more relaxed for the first time.

He was still working but his mind was now clear of the 21 meetings. As we approached RAF Northolt the focus was returning.

On the tarmac, under grey skies, he greeted an air force officer with the words: "What have you done with the weather while we were away."

The sunshine of the previous weekend had given way to a chilly breeze, but in Ukraine the temperature was rising.

I worked out that most of us had, by Thursday afternoon, worked for about 55 hours so far this week.

I was now out of The Bubble and so drove home. The Foreign Secretary got into another car, in another convoy, and headed for the Foreign Office.

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Kidnapped Schoolgirls 'In At Least Four Groups'

Intelligence sources have told Sky News they believe they know where some of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria are.

The sources believe they have been split into at least four different groups, complicating the search to find the girls almost four weeks after they were taken by militants from Boko Haram.

British and American officials are using advanced eavesdropping equipment to scan the Sambisa forest where the schoolgirls are thought to be, Sky News understands.

The burnt-out school where the girls were taken from last month

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, said if the intelligence is true it would be "much more difficult to mount simultaneous raids" to rescue them.

"The whole thing is fraught with danger," she added.

It has been claimed Nigerian security forces failed to respond to warnings about Boko Haram's planned abduction of the 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok in the northern Borno state on April 14.

There are reports some of the girls have already been sold

Amnesty International said it had verified reports from several credible sources who claimed the military was aware of the impending attack close to four hours before it took place.

The Nigerian government has rejected the findings as "unfounded".

The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has threatened to sell the girls "on the market", amid reports some have already been trafficked to neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.

Parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls

But Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said he believes the girls are still in the country.

A British team of experts sent to "advise and support" the rescue operation touched down in Abuja earlier on Friday.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office says Britain's aim is not only to find the girls but to eradicate Boko Haram.

The girls were taken from a boarding school in the north of Nigeria

Prime Minister David Cameron has told Sky News the abduction is "a ghastly situation, an act of pure evil".

The Islamist militant group's five-year insurgency has left at least 1,500 dead this year alone.

Its name is said to figuratively mean "Western education is forbidden".

Michelle Obama tweeted a photo of herself supporting the girls on Thursday

US first lady Michelle Obama is to speak out against the kidnappings later today when she gives the weekly presidential address instead of her husband, the White House has said.

Earlier this week, she expressed solidarity with the kidnap victims, tweeting a photograph of herself holding a placard bearing the slogan #BringBackOurGirls.

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Ukraine: 'No Sign' Russians Leaving Border

The US and Nato have said there is no evidence Russia has moved its forces back from the Ukrainian border despite the president saying his forces are "not on the Ukrainian border".

Russia's Vladimir Putin said: "We're always being told that our forces on the Ukrainian border are a concern. We have withdrawn them.

"They are in places where they conduct their regular tasks on training grounds."

However, the White House and the Pentagon said there was no indication Russia had moved the up to 40,000 troops - backed by heavy armour and fighter planes - believed to be deployed in the area.

"We would certainly welcome a meaningful and transparent withdrawal" White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters travelling with President Barack Obama to Arkansas and California.

"To date, there has been no evidence that such a withdrawal has taken place."

He also demanded that Russia go further than merely calling for a planned referendum on independence for eastern Ukraine to be postponed.

Ukrainian forces outside the rebel held stronghold of Slavyansk

Mr Putin has called on pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine to delay a poll in the mostly Russian-speaking region until after Sunday, but the US wants it cancelled completely.

Several towns and cities in east Ukraine have come under the control of separatists, who are seeking independence from Kiev.

They had been due to vote on whether to leave the rest of Ukraine on May 11, in a referendum that was not supported by Kiev or the West.

One of the separatist leaders said they would consider the Russian leader's call to postpone the referendum.

But Sky's Katie Stallard, who is in Donetsk, said there were doubts about whether Mr Putin had been completely frank when making his statements.

"Taken at face value this is a real about turn. There are a couple of reasons to be sceptical," she said.

A flag burns outside Mariupol city hall, which is back under rebel control

"First, Russia did sign up to the Geneva accord ... all of which had zero effect. Second there are real logistical issues with whether they would be able to hold that referendum ... so it may be rather convenient if they were to postpone (it).

"The third reason to bear in mind when you hear Mr Putin speak is, all the way through the situation in Crimea, he denied any Russian troops were involved. It was only after the event that he admitted that there were.

"I think you have to … believe when you see it."

Meanwhile, European Union governments pressed ahead with plans to target Russian people and companies as a way of putting pressure on the Kremlin.

Foreign Secretary William Hague, who is holding talks in Kiev with the country's leaders, told Sky News the rebels' referendum was an attempt to "disrupt" national elections that are being held in Ukraine on May 25.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces withdrew from Mariupol city hall after a night of heavy fighting saw them recapture the rebel-held building.

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Oscar Pistorius Arrives At Court In Pretoria

The Oscar Pistorius murder trial is hearing evidence on when Reeva Steenkamp may have eaten before her death from an anaesthetist.

The athlete's defence team has started calling expert witnesses as the trial enters its 28th day.

Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, but he claims he shot her by accident.

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'Huge Explosion' Destroys Hotel In Syria

A huge explosion has destroyed a hotel in northern city of Aleppo, according to Syrian state media.

Government troops were said to be staying in the hotel, which is believed to be called the Charlton.

Several other buildings were reported to be damaged in the explosion in Syria's largest city.

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Nigerian Girl 'Ran And Ran' To Escape Kidnap

A Nigerian girl who staged a remarkable escape when gunmen took her and more than 200 others hostage has described how she was told: "Don't worry, we're soldiers. Nothing is going to happen to you."

The 16-year-old was snatched from her boarding school in Chibok by members of the Islamic group Boko Haram. She was herded into a pick-up truck and driven away but fled when one of the vehicles in the convoy broke down.

She and her friends jumped down from the truck and darted into a nearby forest to hide when the stranded car behind them suddenly started up, illuminating the road ahead.

"We ran and ran, so fast," said the girl. "That's how I saved myself. I had no time to be scared. I was just running."

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is wanted by Nigerian police

Some of the children clung to low-hanging branches as the kidnappers' convoy sped off into the night.

When the girls eventually made their way back to the road, they were met by a man on a bicycle who accompanied them back to the village.

The teenager described the end of her ordeal as an emotional experience.

"I'm the only girl in my family, so I hold a special place and everyone was so happy," she said. "But that didn't last long."

Remembering the siege on April 14, the girl said she knew the men were not who they claimed to be when they started shouting: "Allahu Akhbar (God is great)."

The girls were taken from the village of Chibok in northeast Nigeria

She said there were too many attackers to count, adding that she and her friends had no choice but to sit and watch as their classrooms were set alight before they were herded onto three trucks.

The kidnapping has been condemned by both the UK and the US, who have offered to help find the girls.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a video alongside two militants brandishing AK-47s saying: "I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.

"Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions."

The kidnappers are thought to be hiding out in a remote area on the Nigeria-Cameroon border.

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Obama: We'll Do Everything To Find Nigeria Girls

Nigerian Kidnaps: What Can Really Be Done?

Updated: 2:46pm UK, Tuesday 06 May 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

The temptation to "do something" is almost overwhelming. Some 270 school girls abducted, many already raped, dragged into the bush and now threatened with being sold into slavery.

Of course the "do something" instinct comes to the fore.

In fact it's only really become an international cry since the leader of Boko Haram, which means Western education is sinful, delivered a 57-minute diatribe in Hausa, Arabic and English, threatening the girls with slavery this week.

Inside Nigeria, the government has been under growing pressure to "do something".

Dr Sakyimah Akilu, a presidential adviser and spokeswoman on national security, told Sky News that it was true that there was a general impression that the Nigerian government had failed to react to the mass abductions.

"The truth is that we are pursuing every lead we have had. But you have to understand that they have been taken into the Sambisa forest and perhaps into the mountains in Cameroon - there are many places to hide," she said.

This fatalism may explain why the Nigerian administration of Goodluck Jonathan appears to have been flat footed in hunting down the radical Islamist group which is now threatening the girls with a most un-Islamic torment.

William Hague said: "Using girls as the spoils of war and the spoils of terrorism is disgusting and immoral. It should show everybody across the world that they should not give any support for such a vile organisation …

"Britain is offering assistance, but of course the primary responsibility will rest with the Nigerians, and I hope they will do what is necessary to reunite these girls with their families."

The British Foreign Secretary is vague on what that "assistance" could be.

In all likelihood, it would take the form of Special Force advice on how to track the girls. Perhaps some help, too, with surveillance.

But both would be limited. More of a gesture than anything else.

Special Forces from South Africa, Britain, the United States and other Western nations have been on the trail of the similarly horrible Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic for decades.

Their analysis has been that while they could probably kill the leadership of the LRA, a capture operation would be almost impossible.

A similar military analysis would emerge on Boko Haram - finding and saving the missing girls would be almost impossible - slaughtering elements of Boko Haram would not.

But killing won't solve the problem.

The sad truth is that Nigeria's missing children are likely to stay that way.

Efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Boko Haram's leader Abdulbakar Shekau over the last four years - while 4,000 Nigerians died - have come to nought.

Now he has the attention of the whole world, he won't want to give up on the limelight the missing girls have given him.

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Thailand PM Yingluck Shinawatra Dismissed

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been dismissed from office after the country's constitutional court ruled that she has been guilty of abuse of power.

The court ruled that, by transferring a senior civil servant in 2011 to another position, Ms Yingluck was carrying out a "hidden agenda" that would benefit her politically powerful family.

Therefore, the court ruled, the act violated the constitution - the PM has denied this.

"The judges unanimously rule that Yingluck abused her prime minister status and interfered in transferring (Thawil Pliensri) for her own benefit," said court president Charoon Intachan in a TV ruling.

May Day protests took place last week against the government

"Therefore her prime minister status has ended ... Yingluck can no longer stay in her position acting as caretaker prime minister."

Several cabinet ministers who endorsed the decision to transfer the security chief will also be stripped of their status.

The ruling means Ms Yingluck and nine members of her current caretaker Cabinet must step down from office.

Anti-government protests have been taking place in Bangkok for months

Thailand's first female prime minister has been in power for more than two years but there has been considerable opposition to her position because of her brother, former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

Despite becoming skilled at fighting off political opponents, Ms Yingluck has spent recent months facing mass political demonstrations in the capital, Bangkok, with the Thai people calling for her to step down.

She came under strong criticism for her government's reaction to the flooding of 2011 which threatened to overwhelm Bangkok and, as a result, ruin the economy.

It is not clear who will become the new prime minister or if there will be a political vacuum pending a future election.

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Kenya: Three Killed In Nairobi Bus Bombings

At least three people have been killed and 60 others hurt after bomb attacks against two buses in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The vehicles were being driven along a busy highway when the homemade explosive devices went off.

Some reports said the devices had been placed on the buses, while other reports said they were grenades which had been thrown at the vehicles.

The blasts happened in the Thika Road area, close to the city centre, and the scene was quickly sealed off, witnesses said.

TV pictures showed a large red passenger bus with a large hole ripped out of its side, and a green bus with its roof and sided buckled by an explosion.

It comes a day after two explosions rocked the port city of Mombasa, killing four people.

A second bus was also targeted in Nairobi

They died after attackers threw a grenade at passengers at a busy bus station in Mwembe Tayari, near the city centre.

A second blast went off outside a luxury hotel after the device was found on a beach - but no-one was killed.

At the bus terminal, victims were sprawled in a pool of blood and the road was littered with shattered glass from a bus.

"I didn't see who threw the object, but I heard a loud explosion before I fell to the ground. I then felt my legs go numb," Halima Sidi, 26, who works at a local supermarket, told Reuters at a hospital as nurses bandaged her wounded legs.

Mombasa and Nairobi were hit by attacks over the weekend

Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa said: "What happened is a grenade was thrown at passengers.

"The attackers were riding on a motorbike, and lobbed the grenade at the crowd of people at the bus terminus."

An unattended bag was found on the beach, which was abandoned at the gate of the hotel after it was found to contain what turned out to be an explosive device, which then went off.

Hotelier Mohammed Hersi told Sky News there had been no injuries and all the guests were safe.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks.

But Kenya has blamed similar assaults on al Qaeda-linked Somali group al Shabaab, which killed at least 67 people at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September.

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Nigeria's Leader Pledges To Find Kidnapped Girls

Nigeria's president has vowed to ensure the release of 276 schoolgirls abducted by suspected Islamists.

Goodluck Jonathan has been under fire for his handling of the armed attack in the town of Chibok in the northeastern Borno state - and for not speaking about the mass abduction earlier.

In a live radio and television broadcast, he said: "We promise that anywhere the girls are, we will surely get them out."

He also pleaded for the parents of the missing girls and their local communities to co-operate with the rescue efforts during what he described as a "trying" and "painful" time.

A protest against delays in freeing the abducted girls in Abuja last week

The president also revealed he had asked President Barack Obama for US help to counter the activities of the Islamic terror group Boko Haram.

He said he had also approached other countries - including France, Britain and China for assistance.

Nigerians were "justified" in their anger over the government's perceived response, he said, but assured families the girls' "disappearance" would not be another global "mystery".

And he dismissed claims his government was negotiating with Boko Haram.

The attack happened in Nigeria's northeastern Borno state

But parents of the abducted girls held an emotional rally in the capital Abuja and said he had not done enough to rescue their loved ones since gunmen - believed to be Boko Haram extremists - stormed the girls' boarding school on April 14.

"They've been promising us that these girls would be found, but up until today, up until this moment I'm talking, nothing has been done," said one mother, Martha Yarama Ndirpaya.

The 16 to 18-year-olds were forced from their dormitories on to trucks and driven away by their captors.

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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Athlete's Call For Help

Oscar Pistorius has arrived at court in South Africa, where his murder trial is due to resume after a two-week break.

The athlete's defence will continue setting out what it claims happened on the night his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead.

His lawyer, Barry Roux, is set to call ballistics, audio and psychological experts over the coming days, as the trial enters what is likely to prove a critical phase.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, in Pretoria, said: "The defence has got to counter several prosecution claims - not least that there was a pause between shots which, crucially, would have given Ms Steenkamp time to shout out in anguish before the fatal head shot."

Pistorius, 27, admits shooting his partner but denies a charge of premeditated murder, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

The court in Pretoria has not sat since it was adjourned for the Easter holidays on April 18.

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