Friendly Fire May Have Killed French

[unhappycamper]

Friendly Fire May Have Killed French
August 21, 2008
Military.com

NATO is looking into a report that at least some of the 10 French paratroopers killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 18 died not at the hands of Taliban fighters but from NATO friendly fire.

The French foreign minister says there is nothing to the claim, but the newspaper Le Monde quoted survivors of the fighting as saying they were hit by NATO aircraft bombs after the Taliban ambush on their unit.

Asked about the story by Agence France Presse, a NATO official told the news service he had "nothing substantive to confirm or deny this particular suggestion."

AFP did not identify the official.

According to NATO's Aug. 19 statement on the attack, the insurgents killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 others in the attack outside Kabul.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/friendly-fire-may-have-killed-french.html

[maddezmom]

1. some more links here: No reports air support resulted in French casualties: Pentagon

No reports air support resulted in French casualties: Pentagon
Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Pentagon said Wednesday it has no information that close US air support resulted in casualties among French troops ambushed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

The newspaper Le Monde reported that French troops wounded in the fighting said NATO air strikes missed their targets and hit French troops, as did shots fired by Afghan troops backing them up.

"We have no reports of any casualties caused by close air support," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. Asked whether French soldiers had been killed or wounded by friendly fire, he said there were "no reports of that."



Read more: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ikCtRuLfD-8QqZljs_J...


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French troops 'killed by Nato jets'



Reports that 10 French soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan after being mistakenly attacked by Nato aircraft are to be "looked into," officials for the military alliance have said.



France's Le Monde newspaper quoted French soldiers who had survived the ambush near Kabul on Monday saying they were hit in a "friendly fire" incident.



The soldiers told the newspaper they waited for four hours for back-up after being ambushed.



But when Nato planes finally arrived they hit French troops after missing their target, the newspaper quoted the soldiers as saying.


more:http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/08/200882...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3446461&mesg_id=3446461

[Amonester]

2. "no reports of that."

Now, who effed up (or... else...)??

(AND... does anybody here STILL believes ANYTHING from the "Cover-up'pers-In-Thief"?? Thought so.)