British special forces were tonight leading a huge manhunt for the Taliban assassin who killed five UK soldiers as they drank tea inside a military compound.

Soldiers from the elite SAS were part of a military operation to track down the killer, a rogue Afghan policeman who gunned down his targets with an AK47.

He had climbed on to a roof before peppering the courtyard of the compound below with bullets.

The British soldiers had laid down weapons and removed their helmets and body armour as proof of their trust in their hosts, local officials in the village of Shin Kalay, Nad-e'Ali district.