The Australian soldier killed by an Afghan soldier was shot four times as he walked down stairs at a
patrol base in Afghanistan on Monday.
In an updated account of the incident, Defence Minister Stephen Smith on Wednesday said the Afghan soldier was alone in a watch tower as one his comrades was making his way to the ground.
At the same time Lance Corporal Andrew Gordon Jones was walking down stairs.
"He shot our soldier on four separate occasions and then fled," Mr Smith told ABC Radio of the Afghan soldier left in the tower.
No progress had been made in capturing or "rounding up" the rogue soldier.
Mr Smith described the new version of events as a slight variation of the original account given by defence force chief Angus Houston on Tuesday.
"This is not unusual and one of the reasons why the chief of the defence force and I always say we need to be very careful and await the exhaustive investigation."
POSSIBLE INFILTRATOR
Mr Smith dismissed suggestions the Afghan soldier was an imposter or insurgent infiltrator, although the ABC's Afghanistan correspondent filed a story quoting the head of operations for the the Afghan National Army's 4th battalion in Uruzgan, Colonel Abdul Qahar, saying the opposite was likely.
"Our research and investigation are in progress. As you know, the cunning enemies of Afghanistan want to get inside the ranks of the Afghan National Army and police," he said.
"So I think that he was one of those enemies inside our ranks who carried out this action.
"The final investigation will show us the exact reason."
Mr Smith said careful checks were carried out: "our starting point is that this soldier was subject to all of the usual biometric identification tests."
"We don't know whether there's been a dispute or disagreement between the two or what the motivation is."
Following the shooting, the second Afghan soldier "raced up the watch tower" and then fired at his fleeing comrade.
The soldier had been training with Australian forces for "a number of months at least", Mr Smith said.
He described the shooting as a shock to the system but said it was worth remembering Australian forces were training 3500 Afghan National Army soldiers in Oruzgan Province.
"It does take the wind out of our sails.
"But in the clear sight of the following day we don't hesitate that the course we have set is right."
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