Rifle problems blamed on maintenance

LONDON -- An official inquiry into the fault-prone assault rifle used by British troops in Afghanistan has blamed soldiers for not cleaning and maintaining the weapon correctly, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The government has come under pressure to scrap the modified SA80-A2 rifle after troops reported it had misfired and jammed during anti-terrorist operations.

Weapons specialists went to Afghanistan to see the rifle in action and have submitted a detailed report to the government.

According to The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, the report blamed the problems on soldiers not cleaning and maintaining the weapon properly.

The report said when cleaned according to the manufacturer's instructions, the rifle performed "highly successfully," while those cleaned by soldiers without the guidelines had a significant number of failures.

Soldiers have complained that the rifle jams in adverse weather conditions, is difficult to clean and is less robust than other weapons.

According to the newspaper, senior Royal Marine officials are furious with the report, and have labeled it a "whitewash."

The Ministry of Defense said on Sunday it had issued British troops with instructions on how to maintain and clean the rifle.

"There may be teething troubles," said a spokesman on condition of anonymity.

The ministry said government officials were examining the report.

The original SA80 was suspended from NATO's nominated weapons list because soldiers experienced problems.

News reports said senior army officers have urged the government to scrap the rifle.