News Story

29 August 2008 05:39 BST

Friendly fire incident wounds British soldiers

Friday, 11 Jul 2008 12:09

A routine British patrol came under fire

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A British helicopter is believed to have fired on British troops during an engagement against Taliban militants in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

No troops were killed because of the apparent mistake but nine were wounded, three seriously.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at 12:27 local time (09:07 BST) in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.

An Apache helicopter gunship was called in by the patrol for assistance and, having engaged one enemy position, turned its fire on another position.

An MoD statement said "it would appear that friendly forces were mistaken for the enemy.

"An investigation is underway into how the incident occurred and it would be inappropriate to comment until that investigation is complete," it added.

Three of the wounded remain in medical care while six others have been discharged from medical facilities at Camp Bastion and have returned to service.

The MoD said the incident occurred "in the confusion of a rapidly changing situation and in what is a challenging environment". End of story

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News Story

Friendly fire incident wounds British soldiers

Also In The News

Nine UK troops injured by own helicopter

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