We've all seen this reposted a few times. Well, now the story behind it's out... There was bayonet action that happened just after the footage cuts out.


Sgt P was the reserve section commander of 3 Platoon. His soldiers were not directly in contact with the enemy, but he could hear the sound of AK47s firing a few hundreds metres to his north.

Sgt P told me of the events that unfolded that day during a rare quiet morning in Sangin in early September 2007.

"Like most firefights, the battle was quite confused. I was assessing the situation when we started taking some fire from our left flank.

"My men were in cover so we were quite safe. The bullets were above us and close to our position, so I was convinced that whoever was firing in our direction knew we were there."

The firing continued, so Sgt P decided to investigate. Pointing at Pte C, a young soldier, Sgt P smiled and said, with his calm East Anglian twang, "Come on, let's earn our pay."

As they approached a crossroads of ditches, Sgt P spotted four Taliban fighters. "By that stage I thought we were going to run into a group of ANA, then there they were, four Taliban."

As the fighting echoed around them, the two soldiers inched their way forward.

"We managed to creep up on the Taliban, and got quite close before they spotted us and started shooting. We attacked them and cleared the position using close-quarter battle skills. I shot dead the first Taliban fighter.

"He was hiding further up the ditch. I saw him crawling away and thought, 'The f---er's trying to outflank us.' But he wasn't quick enough. I broke cover and fired two shots into his chest. He slumped and I could see that I had killed him. I felt nothing.

"I looked back, checked that Pte C was OK, then prepared to go after the others. I thought to myself, 'Right this could now get close and personal.' My heart was thumping; the adrenaline was flowing. I was excited and pumped, but at the back of your mind you're thinking, 'Am I gonna make it out of here?' but I don't think it's fear. It's a kind of resignation. If it happens then it happens just don't f--- up.

"So I put a fresh magazine on my weapon, fixed my bayonet and threw a grenade into the enemy position. I moved forward with the other lad a few metres behind me. We were now in the thick of it. There was no going back, only forward."

As Sgt P moved forward through the dense vegetation, he saw a kneeling black-robed figure, armed with an AK47.

"We almost bumped into each other and that wouldn't have been the first time that has happened in the Green Zone. I fired two shots a double tap in quick succession.

"I hit him twice, he staggered and went down, but I could see that he wasn't dead. He was still a threat. I was moving forward so I charged at him. I was screaming, my blood was up and I rammed my bayonet into his chest that finished him off.

"I stared into his face and I saw that I had killed him. It was either him or me, but I got there first. He would have killed me if I had given him the chance or if he had been quicker, of that I have no doubt. It sounds callous, I know, but you don't go out on to the battlefield to make friends.

"So we moved on and I got another one of them in my sights and I shot and killed him and I have to say I was knackered at that stage, really knackered. It was at that stage I sat down and thought 'f---ing hell', but in that situation you just have to keep going forward."

As Sgt P and Pte C caught their breath, the rest of the section joined them. They were scanning the ground in front of them for signs of life when they were fired on. The fire was accurate and sustained.

"The guy had obviously returned. He must have been very brave or stupid. I had the whole section with me, so we returned fire.

"He wouldn't have lasted long with that lot coming at him. I've often wondered why he came back. He had just seen three of his mates die and he legged it and then came back. Maybe he thought he was going to die anyway so he would take some of us with him. I think that's what I would have done."

With the four Taliban dead, Sgt P received a message to withdraw. Reflecting on the incident, Sgt P recalled: "I've killed men before, but not that close. Not so that you can see the man's face when you take his life that makes it very personal.

"I was lucky that day, we all were. We were in the right place at the right time."

I asked Sgt P how he felt about taking human life. He thought before he answered and said: "Actually, I've killed six, at least six. I can't say I really spend a lot of time thinking about it. For some people, that might be difficult to live with, but not for me. I killed them all in the heat of battle. It's what I have been trained to do. "