Nine British troops injured in 'friendly fire'

ITN - 16 minutes ago

Nine British troops have been injured in a "friendly fire" incident in southern Afghanistan.

According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a British Apache helicopter gunship mistakenly fired on troops who were engaged in a firefight with Taliban insurgents.

The ministry said a British patrol requested fire support from the Apache when they encountered insurgents in Helmand Province.

A spokesman for the MoD said; "After successfully engaging one enemy position the Apache fired upon another position which the crew believed to be held by enemy forces.

"However, in the confusion of a rapidly changing situation and in what is a challenging environment, it would appear that friendly forces were mistaken for the enemy and as a result three members of the patrol were seriously wounded and six more were classified as walking wounded."

Six of the casualties have now been discharged and returned to service. Two others remain in hospital under observation. One has been flown back to the UK in a stable state.

All the soldiers' next of kin have been informed.

Well at least it's not the Yanks this time...

Whilst not ideal, if 2 Para was hand-to-hand with the Taliban, and this Apache put down suppressing fire, it's just like having ordnance landing landing danger-close. Not good, but sometime your only option in the shit.

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

"A history of friendly fire"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7505464.stm

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"Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes..."

I must admit. I thought the Apache crew would have taken the hint and fired at the ones who were shooting at them...

I read some where recently that during one of Laba,s Keenie Meenie patrols in downtown Aden that a member of I think a Royal Anglian Battalion was shot and killed by the patrol.

Does anyone know anymore about this.