30 US Marines injured in friendly fire

By CAHAL MILMO

Coalition commanders have ordered an urgent review of measures to prevent "friendly fire" after a string of deaths and injuries.

Yesterday, dozens of US Marines were injured when they fired on one another in a friendly fire clash around Nasiriyah.

ITV correspondent James Mates reported: "It happened late last night. There was a very heavy firefight going on, which we could hear from our position.

"A small group of Iraqis had gone effectively around the side of the American advance and started attacking the less well defended logistics and command positions in the rear.

"Two American forces were detailed to deal with this threat. They both moved towards it, but ended up fighting each other, very heavy fire coming in from light armoured vehicles on the one side, and a group of troops on the other, and the ones not in the armoured vehicles coming off much the worse.

"We have 30 wounded, two very seriously, though they are both expected to survive, but it has badly hit this battalion that we are with here, because they know that effectively all these casualties were from their own men."

An AFP correspondent saw at least six vehicles destroyed, including three truck transporters, two Humvee all-terrain vehicles and one truck-mounted crane.

Earlier, a British tank crew was killed in an apparent coalition air strike and an American F-16 fired on a Patriot missile battery.

Attention was focusing on the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) boxes carried by all British and American aircraft, which send a unique encoded signal designed to warn allied forces of their presence.

Lieutenant Mark Kitchens, a US military spokesman, said: "There is an investigation to identify procedural changes to ensure the safety of our air crews and Patriot crews in combat situations."

Two RAF air crew became the first victims of friendly fire in the war when their Tornado GR4 was blown apart over Kuwait by a Patriot battery which had identified the jet as an Iraqi missile.

American Central Command in Qatar confirmed similarities between the Tornado incident and that involving the F-16, which attacked after the Patriot battery locked its radar on the plane.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq