Nine UK troops injured by own helicopter
Thursday, 10 Jul 2008 20:10
Nine British troops injured after UK army helicopter opens fire on their position in Afghanistan
Nine British troops have been injured after a UK army helicopter opened fire on their position in Afghanistan, it has been revealed.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed the 'friendly-fire' incident took place in Helmand province yesterday at 12:27 local time (09:27 BST).
Six of the injured personnel have been discharged after sustaining minor injuries.
But of three soldiers seriously wounded in the incident two remain in a field hospital at Camp Bastion and a third is being flown back to the UK.
The "blue-on-blue" incident took place when a routine British patrol requested fire support from a UK Apache helicopter at forward operating base Gibraltar in volatile Helmand province.
A statement from the MoD explained: "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."
An MoD spokesperson told
inthenews.co.uk an investigation was underway and it would be inappropriate to comment until it had been completed.