'Friendly fire' kills UK soldiers

Source: BBC

Three British troops have been killed in Afghanistan by suspected "friendly fire", the Ministry of Defence said.

The MoD said the soldiers, from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, were killed on Thursday at approximately 1830 local time.

It is understood the soldiers died when US fighter planes, called to support ground troops, dropped a bomb near their patrol in Helmand province.

Two other soldiers were also injured. Next of kin have been informed.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6962071.stm

"Three British soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment have been killed in an apparent friendly fire incident involving a US aircraft in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.

Two other soldiers were injured in the incident, which occurred yesterday at 6.30pm local time.

The MoD said all of the soldiers were taking part in a patrol to disrupt Taliban activity in north-west Kajaki, in Helmand province.

The patrol was attacked by Taliban insurgents and air support was summoned in the form of two US F15 aircraft. One bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed the three soldiers."

The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2155628,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

of warfare. Right?

When Germans bomb, British flee.
When British bomb, Germans flee.
But when Americans bomb, everybody flees.

(My 85 year-old friend version.)

Think it's funny now?

Bigotry is always wrong. Always. As wrong as friendly fire which tragically happens in all
military situations, but it happens.

My nephew's friend Ralph died from UK friendly fire. I don't use that as an occasion to make fun of Brits.

He was in the Canadian army during WWII.

Our bad. How much should we make the check out for???? :sarcasm:

Source: AP

U.S. bomb kills British troops

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A bomb apparently dropped by an American
fighter jet called in for air support killed three British soldiers
in southern Afghanistan, officials said today. Two soldiers were
seriously wounded.

The British unit was on patrol Thursday evening in Helmand province
when it came under Taliban attack, the British Ministry of Defense
said.

“During the intense engagement that ensued, close air support was
called in from two U.S. F-15 aircraft to repel the enemy. One bomb
was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed the three soldiers.’’

They were the first British soldiers killed in friendly fire in
Afghanistan, although joint operations between U.S. and British
forces in Iraq have been marred by “friendly fire” deaths caused
by the failure of equipment and personnel in correctly identifying
allies.

<more>

Read more: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/249483

I expect nothing less from this ship of fools.

My condolences and apologies to the families and the British in general.

aimed precisely wrong.

When a plane drops "a" bomb, usually it's precision-guided. Laser, GPS, infrared, etc. Because you only need one.

When a plane is dropping unguided bombs, they usually drop them in a string to maximize the changes of a bomb hitting a target close enough. For example, a string of 6 500-pound bombs dropped a quarter of a second apart. That's a spacing of 50 yards or so.

usually kill civilians too - lots of them. The calling in of a US air strike by British and other nation's soldiers is often a death sentence for ordinary Afghans.

I'm sure I'll see this story run a few times on faux propaganda network...right?

Its just a fact of war. Something that happens. People get nervous, shoot at anything that moves.

War is chaos mixed with horror. There will always be friendly fire and non-combatants killed. Science has made killing technology easy and placed such tech in the hands of imperfect men and women.

Its sad, but it should be no surprise.