[NYTr] Afghanistan: Not Just 'Friendly Fire, ' But So Many Traffic Accidents!

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

CNN - Aug 25, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/24/afghan.britain/index.html

U.S. jet bombs British troops; "traffic accidents" claim more

(CNN) -- Three British soldiers were killed in a suspected "friendly
fire" incident involving a bomb dropped from a U.S. fighter plane
during a clash with Taliban militants in Afghanistan, military
officials said Friday

The three British troops died during an operation against the Taliban
near Kajaki in the southwestern province of Helmand, the UK Ministry of
Defense said in a statement.

It said air support from two U.S. F-15 aircraft was called in during
the clash.

"One bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed the three
soldiers," the ministry said.

The deaths of the soldiers, who were serving under NATO command, brings
to 73 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the
U.S.-led offensive of 2001. Many of those have died in a recent upsurge
in Taliban activity in Helmand. Watch how the deaths have reopened old
wounds Video

Two other soldiers were wounded and air-lifted to a nearby base for
medical treatment.

Meanwhile, two coalition soldiers died in a non-combat "vehicle
rollover" accident in the western province of Herat early Friday, a
coalition press center statement said. Two other soldiers were also
wounded in the accident, which the coalition said is under
investigation.

The soldiers' names and nationalities were not immediately released.

In another non-combat related incident, a French NATO soldier was
killed in a traffic accident in the Afghan capital of Kabul on
Thursday, the French Defense Ministry said. advertisement

The incident occurred in city's Shakardara district, the ministry said.
He was part of a patrol in a light armored vehicle.

He was the 11th soldier from France to die in the Afghan conflict.