'Friendly fire' kills British soldier and wounds five others

9.30pm

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar - One British soldier was killed and five were injured in what appeared to be another "friendly fire" incident among US-led forces in southern Iraq, Britain said today.

"It appears there was a friendly fire incident involving coalition air forces against some United Kingdom vehicles," Group Captain Al Lockwood, the main spokesman for British forces at Central Command forward headquarters, told Reuters.

"Tragically, one of our personnel was killed and five others are injured.

It appears to have been clearly a mistake but...investigations are under way to try and ascertain the actual facts of what happened," Lockwood said.

The three light armoured vehicles were on a patrol north of Basra, a city British forces have so far failed to capture due to strong resistance from Iraqi "paramilitaries".

A Ministry of Defence spokesman in London said the families of the soldiers had all been informed.

Before the incident the official British death toll in the war was 20.

Only five of the British deaths have been at the hands of the Iraqis, the rest have come from accidents or by fire from their own side.

British media said the latest incident was caused by an American A10 "tankbuster" plane strafing two armoured personal carriers in southern Iraq.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war