THE Afghan soldier who murdered Melbourne army cook Andrew Jones in cold blood has himself been killed.

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Shafied Ullah Guhlamon was shot dead by American special forces troops near his home village on Sunday night.

He was cornered close to the Pakistan border and told to surrender.

The dark-eyed soldier with the Errol Flynn moustache refused, drew his pistol and was killed by the joint US-Afghan patrol.

"He was a direct threat to the special forces and he was killed," Defence Minister Stephen Smith said.

Shafied's brother and several others who sheltered him were captured.

"His brother...has been detained by US forces and we hope that questioning of him may throw some light on the reasons for the terrible murder of Lance-Cpl Jones," Mr Smith said.

Two AK-47 rifles and several grenades were seized.

The patrol hunted the killer down using intelligence provided by coalition forces. Australian SAS soldiers had pursued Shafied for 20 days under an Afghan-led operation across eastern Afghanistan.

He had been on the run since May 30 when he shot Lance-Cpl Jones at Combat Outpost Mashal in the Chora Valley.

Lance-Cpl Jones was described as a "bloody good soldier and a bloody great cook".





After shooting Lance-Cpl Jones with several rounds from an M-16 carbine, Shafied dropped the weapon and escaped over the wall of the outpost. He escaped a dragnet and was heading for his home when he was killed.

Afghan commander Brigadier-General Abdul Hamid confirmed Shafied was not a Taliban infiltrator.

Defence chief Air Force Marshal Angus Houston said Shafied's death could not be avoided as he posed a threat to coalition soldiers.

"I understand from reporting received this morning that Shafied Ullah drew a pistol when confronted by the Coalition Special Forces team and was shot and killed," Air Force Marshal Houston said.


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