A British soldier who confronted a Taliban insurgent with a human shield was shot after he refused to fire, for fear of hurting the small child.
Brave Lance Corporal Craig Murfitt demonstrated nerves of steel as he watched the sniper take aim and pull the trigger before he was sent flying to the ground.
The 25-year-old father-of-one said: “I knew I could take him down but being a dad myself, I didn’t want to run the risk of killing a kid.”
The rifleman and medic had been on a routine security patrol with the Tidworth-based 2nd Royal Tank Regiment when he was called to reinforce infantry colleagues in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
The group had come under fire from hidden insurgents and required immediate back-up, he said.
“Our arrival, with our heavy firepower, seemed to bring the fight to an end fairly quickly, but we stayed alert,” he said.
“Everything was quiet but then I spotted three men with a child on a compound roof, about 275 metres to the front of the vehicles.
“Suddenly two of the men moved off, leaving one man with the child – it was a girl, no more than 10-years-old. At this point I realised something was wrong – the man picked up a rifle and moved behind the child, taking aim at me.”
The soldier, known as Murf, could either protect himself and fire – which risked injuring the child – or hold off.
He decided to wait.
“I knew I could take him down but, being a dad myself, I didn’t want to run the risk of killing a kid and undoing all the good work we’ve achieved,” he said.
“So I waited, hoping that the child would drop down and give me a clear shot,” he said.
But the insurgent fired and struck Lance Corporal Murfitt on the left hand side of his Mark 7 Combat Helmet – a piece of kit already credited with saving lives.
The force of the bullet sent the serviceman, from Barnstaple in Devon, crashing to the floor.
“I felt the dent in my helmet and said to the others, ‘I’ve been shot in the head but I’m fine’. I tried to stand up but I had disco legs and just had to sit down again for a bit,” he said.
Colleagues in his Warthog armoured vehicle returned fire.
The soldier, who was uninjured, returned to duties immediately after the attack.
As a medic and rifleman, his job requires him to provide first aid to the local community and protect infantry soldiers and engineers working on a major road, viewed by insurgents as a threat to their control.
He will return to his wife Erica, a soldier with 32 Regiment, Royal Artillery, and son Finlay, who is less than a year old, when his tour ends, next year.