Inquest into army deaths postponed

AN inquest into the murder of three Diggers has been postponed as ADF officials were accused of offending families of the dead.

A CORONIAL inquest into the murder of three Diggers by a Taliban-linked Afghan soldier has been postponed after Australian Defence Force officials were accused of offending families of the dead by withholding information about the insider attack.

Lawyers for the families of the Diggers, killed in the 2012 insider attack in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan Province, told a ­preliminary hearing yesterday that the ADF had failed to hand over some critical ­documents.

The civilian inquest, set to start next week, was called after lobbying from the families of Lance Corporal Stjepan “Rick’’ Milosevic, 40, Private Robert Poate, 23 and Sapper James Martin, 21, who were killed when Afghan Zabet Hekmatullah, 19, turned his M-16 on the soldiers as they played cards.