Luke Griffin: British man killed in Kabul was 'brave warrior'

A British man who was killed in a Taliban attack on a security compound in Afghanistan was "a brave warrior" who "took the fight to the enemy", a colleague has said.

Luke Griffin, 33, from Merseyside, was among five G4S employees who died when gunmen stormed the firm's Kabul base.

Wayne Davis, who worked with Mr Griffin, described him as "brave, warm-hearted, professional operator".

He added: "You are now gone Luke, but will never be forgotten."

Insurgents attacked the compound on Wednesday after a car bomb was detonated outside, according to the Afghan interior ministry.

A sixth person was killed, as well as four attackers, a spokesman for Afghanistan's public health ministry said. Dozens more people were injured.

Mr Davis, who worked alongside Mr Griffin in Afghanistan, said he understood staff had been involved in a firefight, and would be finding their colleague's death traumatic.

"You can guarantee that we'd all, to a man, wish to have been there side by side with Luke," he said.

"It is something we never confront until times like this. You'll find some operators will go home now, either by choice or a loved one's insistence.

"The rest of us won't think about it; if you got tied up in your own mortality we'd never do it."

Charlie Burbridge, managing director of G4S Risk Management Group, said the "unprovoked, criminal attack" left 32 of its employees injured, five of them seriously.

"Our thoughts at this difficult time are with the loved ones of those who have died and been injured, and our brave team in Afghanistan who have lost colleagues and friends," he said.

Mr Griffin had previously served with 16th Regiment Royal Artillery in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence issued a statement from his former regiment: "It is with sincere regret that the regiment learned of the death in Kabul of one of its former soldiers - our thoughts and condolences are with his family, friends and all those affected by this tragic news."

G4S, one of the world's largest security groups, helps guard the area around the British Embassy in Kabul.

The firm also provides protection for members of the government in Kabul as well as companies working in the country.

The previous day three US service members were killed and three more were wounded in an explosion near Ghazni.