Linda Norgrove: US navy Seal faces disciplinary action over grenade death

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Linda Norgrove Linda Norgrove managed to break free from her captors, but tragically was not seen by her rescuers, according to Guardian sources


Linda Norgrove: US navy Seal faces disciplinary action over grenade death
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 October 2010 16.23 BST

Startling details of the daring rescue mission that ended in the death of the British aid worker Linda Norgrove can be revealed today, as a joint US-UK investigation into the incident gets under way.

The Guardian has learned that a US special forces soldier who is believed to have accidentally killed Norgrove is likely to face disciplinary action after failing to inform his commanding officers that he had used a grenade until long after the event.

Sources in Kabul and London have confirmed that during the assault on the kidnappers' hideaway the hostage broke away from her captors and lay in a foetal position to avoid harm.

The soldier from the elite Seal Team Six special forces unit failed to see Norgrove and tossed his fragmentation grenade in, which exploded next to her.

~snip~

The Seals involved in the assault were summoned by their commander and asked if any of them had used a fragmentation grenade. One stepped forward and identified himself, triggering a frantic effort by embarrassed US commanders to correct the official record and alert the British government.