Afghan veteran hospitalised after station assault

An Afghan Special Forces veteran who served alongside the British Army has suffered a serious brain injury following an alleged assault at a railway station.

Noor Aziz Ahmadzai, 39, was airlifted to hospital after collapsing following an incident while working as a security guard at Weymouth station last month.

Scans revealed he had sustained a bleed on the brain. He has since regained consciousness, but faces a lengthy road to recovery.

British Transport Police (BTP) said two teenage girls arrested in connection with the incident had been released while inquiries continued.

Aziz Ahmadzai's former partner Georgia Morse, with whom he has a two-year-old son, was visited by police in the early hours of the morning to be told about his condition.

She said: "They said he had been involved in a serious incident and had a serious brain injury.

"Whilst they were with me, they were getting updates saying he had a bleed on the brain. It was really worrying.

"It was a complete shock and, of course, really distressing, especially to hear it was whilst he was at work."

Aziz Ahmadzai had a distinguished military career in Afghanistan and received officer training in the UK at Sandhurst.

He went on to become deputy commander of a specialist counter-terrorism unit, on occasions directly confronting suicide bombers.

He was deployed to major incidents including the Taliban siege of the Intercontinental Hotel in 2018 and attack on a maternity ward in Kabul in 2020.

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, he was able to flee to the UK through the government's Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, because of his work with the British military in his home country.

But despite his wish to serve with the armed forces in the UK, he has so far been unable to apply.

He would first have to become a British citizen, which can only happen after he has lived in the UK for at least five years.

Morse said while Aziz Ahmadzai had received outstanding care in hospital, she had been surprised that he did not qualify for help from veterans' charities.

She said: "You'd think that he'd be entitled to support.

"But we've reached out to military charities and unfortunately he falls through the cracks because he wasn't a British serving veteran, even though he served alongside them."

She added: "They say with this kind of brain injury it takes quite a long time to be able to get a full picture of what we're working with.

"He's still quite hard to communicate with and he's struggling to communicate, but he's alive and I think for now that's a win."

BTP said it had been called to Weymouth railway station at 20:31 GMT on 26 March following reports that a member of rail staff had been assaulted.

Det Ch Insp Paul Atwell said: "Our investigation into this extremely concerning incident is ongoing, and two teenage girls, both aged 17, were arrested at the scene in connection. They have been released from custody while our inquiries continue.

"Our thoughts, of course, are with the member of staff involved, whose family we are supporting.

"We're keen to hear from anyone who may have witnessed the incident to get in touch."