Friendly fire again

Brookfield

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Three members of the British armed forces were killed today in Afghanistan, in a so-called blue on blue incident, they were pinned down by rebel Afghan militants & called down USAF F15's, but the bomb hit the British unit killing three, it's far too early yet to know what went wrong, this is reminiscent of an incident in 2005 when a British sergeant was killed & the tank convoy Commander was injured.
 
Three members of the British armed forces were killed today in Afghanistan, in a so-called blue on blue incident, they were pinned down by rebel Afghan militants & called down USAF F15's, but the bomb hit the British unit killing three, it's far too early yet to know what went wrong, this is reminiscent of an incident in 2005 when a British sergeant was killed & the tank convoy Commander was injured.

do you know if the unit was special forces?

EDIT:
they had to be otherwise they wouldnt have been just 3 of them, because they would have had proper equipment to either laster designate the target, or provide proper GPS coordinates, my guess would the avonics on the plane or bomb, if the enemy was that close the unit on the ground would have been required to designate\give cordinates for safety reasons, so IMO that bomb didnt go where it was supposed to(where the pilot aimed it)

also why would they call in for a F-15 to drop a 500lb. within small arms fire of the enemy, thats just too close. but thats just my 2 cents.
 
Sad to hear. We just had a troop from my home town die recently. He was caught in a crossfire. It's never good to hear of soldiers dying. Just a reality you have to face.
 
do you know if the unit was special forces?

EDIT:
they had to be otherwise they wouldnt have been just 3 of them, because they would have had proper equipment to either laster designate the target, or provide proper GPS coordinates, my guess would the avonics on the plane or bomb, if the enemy was that close the unit on the ground would have been required to designate\give cordinates for safety reasons, so IMO that bomb didnt go where it was supposed to(where the pilot aimed it)

also why would they call in for a F-15 to drop a 500lb. within small arms fire of the enemy, thats just too close. but thats just my 2 cents.
Update, Source; British News [UK], Their regiment was the 1st battalon, The Royal Anglian Regiment, date/time correctiion, 18.30 local time, 1500 BST, two others were injured, one very seriously, when I get more, I'll post it
 
'Friendly fire' kills UK soldiers

Seventy-three UK troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001


UK soldiers on patrol
Three British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan by so-called friendly fire from American fighter planes, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
The MoD said the soldiers, from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, were killed at around 1830 local time (1500 BST) on Thursday.

It is understood they died when the planes dropped a bomb near their patrol in Helmand province.

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

The fighter planes had been called in to give air support to ground troops, the Ministry of Defence said.

Defence Secretary Des Browne said he was "very saddened" by the death of "three brave men who were tragically killed in what is believed to be a friendly fire incident".

He said such incidents were "rare" and it would be thoroughly investigated.

'Very seriously injured'

The United States expresses its deep condolences to the families and loved ones of the soldiers who died

US Embassy statement


No easy fix for 'friendly fire'

"We will look at this incident very carefully and make sure the families, who are uppermost in our thoughts, know exactly what happened to their loved ones," he said.

He added that US air support was very important and had often helped get British troops out of dangerous situations.

"We go to extraordinary lengths to ensure these things don't happen but at the end of the day combat environments are very complex environments. Human error is always a possibility," he said.

The US Embassy in London said in a statement: "The United States expresses its deep condolences to the families and loved ones of the soldiers who died, and we wish those who were injured a speedy recovery."

The MoD said all of the soldiers had been taking part in a fighting patrol to disrupt Taleban activity to the north west of Kajaki, in Helmand province.

They came under attack from Taleban insurgents and during the firefight that followed, close air support was called in from two US F15 aircraft, according to the MoD.



Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Mayo, a spokesman for British troops in Helmand province told BBC Radio 4's The World at One: "During this patrol they came into contact with some Taleban from a number of firing positions.

"As they came under fire they then called in some close air support to assist them and an aircraft came in, it dropped a bomb and tragically this bomb killed three of the soldiers and injured two more."

The three soldiers were declared dead at the scene. The injured two were evacuated by helicopter to the medical facility at Camp Bastion.

Lt Col Mayo said one of the two was very seriously wounded and the other seriously wounded.

BBC Kabul correspondent Alastair Leithead said this was the second case of British service personnel being killed in a friendly fire incident involving American military personnel in Afghanistan.

Royal Anglian fatalities

An inquiry was launched into the death of marine Jonathan Wigley, 21, after he was killed during an intense battle in Helmand province in December 2006.

In February, Mr Browne told MPs that since 1990, 12 UK service personnel had been killed in friendly fire incidents involving American military personnel in Iraq.

The three deaths on Thursday mean the total number of UK troops killed while on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 has risen to 73. Fifty have been killed in action.

The Royal Anglians, which have been based at Pirbright in Surrey for about five years, have been one of the regiments hardest hit by the fighting in Afghanistan.

There has now been a total of nine soldiers killed from the regiment. It is one of the worst casualty rates since Operation Herrick, the campaign in Afghanistan, began in 2001.

On 11 August the regiment's Captain David Hicks was killed during an attack by the Taleban on his patrol base northeast of Sangin in Helmand province.

The regimental headquarters of the Royal Anglians is in Bury St Edmunds. The regiment recruits mainly from the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6962071.stm
 
Sad to hear. We just had a troop from my home town die recently. He was caught in a crossfire. It's never good to hear of soldiers dying. Just a reality you have to face.
Not if the British withdraw their troops, they are getting slaughtered on a daily basis, there are no rest areas or safe zones as there are in Iraq, some troops are working 8 - 9 hours without food breaks, 7 days a week, & they are desperately tired, they get little sleep & the battle recommences around 6am every morning, some of you may have a father, son or brother there, I sincerely hope not, none of us can begin to imagine what carnage is taking place, I'm not normally a very religous person, but if there is a god, protect our boys!!
 
Not if the British withdraw their troops, they are getting slaughtered on a daily basis, there are no rest areas or safe zones as there are in Iraq, some troops are working 8 - 9 hours without food breaks, 7 days a week, & they are desperately tired, they get little sleep & the battle recommences around 6am every morning, some of you may have a father, son or brother there, I sincerely hope not, none of us can begin to imagine what carnage is taking place, I'm not normally a very religous person, but if there is a god, protect our boys!!


That would be nice, but at this point I don't see the British nor the US withdrawing our troops. My dad a while back was going to join the military, but decided against it. I couldn't imagine how I would feel if he or any other member of my family died in this war. I did have a cousin who was in it. Luckily he returned home safe. I do know of one person who is there now. His name is Jason. He has wrote letters telling of how it is there. It sounds horrible.
 
Not if the British withdraw their troops, they are getting slaughtered on a daily basis, there are no rest areas or safe zones as there are in Iraq, some troops are working 8 - 9 hours without food breaks, 7 days a week, & they are desperately tired, they get little sleep & the battle recommences around 6am every morning, some of you may have a father, son or brother there, I sincerely hope not, none of us can begin to imagine what carnage is taking place, I'm not normally a very religous person, but if there is a god, protect our boys!!

afganastain is much safer than iraq, there are so few of fighters in afganastain that they probably only double the UN forces there. also troop conditions are fairly good IMO, we live in luxury over here so no food for a good 8 hours seems like a lot but for them its a short time between meals, people have been constantly engaged in firefights for upwards of 2 days.

even if there was time to sleep soilders never really get "real" sleep when there depolyed. but its fairly rare to run into a firefight in afganastain.

the main reason it looks like all this "carnage" is taking place is becuase the only time something is reported is when something bad happens, never when nothing goes on, which is good ;)
 
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