Inquiry: US bomb kills UK troops

In their call for air support, three British soldiers were killed in a "friendly fire" incident by an American F-15 bomb attack, an inquest has heard.

The soldiers died instantly when a 500 pound bomb dropped by an F-15, hit their position in Afghanistan after an army air controller radioed incorrect grid references to the plane, the inquiry suggested.

Privates Aaron McClure, 19, Robert Foster, 19, and John Thrumble, 21, who were under intense fire, were bombed instead of Taliban positions 1km to the north.

The soldiers were on a mission from their base at COP (combat outpost) Zeebrugge in Helmand, trying to locate and kill a Taliban sniper.

Major Tony Borgnis, commanding over 100 troops that day, described the moment the bomb struck, saying: "I saw it fly through the air. There was a large explosion. I knew in my heart what had happened and feared the worst."

"We had engaged in the wrong place. I knew there had been a problem with the grid reference."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123955§ionid=351020403.