Victoria Cross recipient Willie Apiata has been confirmed as one of the army's elite Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers in Afghanistan.
Apiata was photographed on the streets of Afghanistan capital Kabul after Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the city earlier this week.
The New Zealand soldiers were helping Afghanistan forces restore and keep order.
The photograph of a bearded Apiata and another Kiwi soldier was taken by photographer Philip Poupin and published in The New Zealand Herald today.
Apiata's identity was confirmed by Prime Minister John Key, but he said the publication of the photograph put Apiata's life and the lives of other SAS soldiers at risk because they could be recognised.
He said it was a poor editorial decision by the Herald.
"It would be acceptable to run the photos, but my preference would be that they blank out the faces of the individual soldiers," Mr Key told Radio New Zealand."We do that to protect their identity...for the sake of themselves and their families, so I'm a little bit disappointed."
The Defence Force said it would comment on the incident this afternoon.
Mr Key confirmed on Tuesday a small group of SAS soldiers was at the scene of an attack which killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 70 in the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, on Monday.
Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers struck the heart of Kabul, launching a wave of attacks and triggering battles with security forces that left five people dead and sent terrified residents fleeing.
Several suicide bombers blew themselves up at key sites, setting off blazing fires that sent plumes of black smoke into the sky, as Afghan security forces battled militants on the otherwise deserted streets.
One child was killed, along with four members of the security forces, and more than 70 people were wounded. Seven militants were also killed, either by blowing themselves up or by being shot dead by the security forces.
Several children were also briefly taken hostage, a security official said, in the most dramatic strike on Kabul since the Taliban laid siege to government buildings in February 2009, killing at least 26 people.
Mr Key told reporters that a "small element" of the SAS was among forces that took up positions close to the assault in Pashtunistan Square, an area that holds the Ministry of Justice, the Central Bank and the palace of President Hamid Karzai, about 9.30am local time, with two men detonating suicide bombs.
"No members of the New Zealand SAS were injured in the course of their involvement and I am advised that was very limited," Mr Key said.
The SAS members were part of an operation responding to the attacks.
"All other NZ defence force personnel in Kabul are accounted for and safe, no other New Zealand defence personnel other than those I mentioned already, participated in this incident."
NZPA / 3 News
source: newshub archive
