LONDON (Reuters) - British soldiers wounded by "friendly fire" in Iraq
say their convoy was hit by a U.S. aircraft and one of them called the
pilot a "cowboy" with no regard for human life.
The Times carried accounts by the survivors on Monday which tallied
with earlier media reports that an American A10 "tankbuster" plane had
strafed a convoy of British armoured vehicles.
British authorities said on Saturday they were investigating the
incident south of the Iraqi city of Basra, in which one British soldier
was killed and five were injured.
"You've got an A10 with advanced technology and he can't use a thermal
sight to identify whether a tank is a friend or a foe. It's ridiculous,"
the newspaper quoted Lance Corporal Steven Gerrard as saying from his bed
on the hospital ship RFA Argus.
Gerrard said his convoy had approached a group of Iraqi civilians
waving white flags when the plane attacked them.
"There was a boy no more than 12 years old. He was no more than 20
metres (66 ft) away when the Yank opened up," he was quoted as saying. "He
had absolutely no regard for human life. I believe he was a cowboy."
Gerrard said the U.S. aircraft had made two sweeps over the
five-vehicle convoy of Scimitar light reconnaissance tanks and was less
than 500 metres away when the pilot opened fire.
"We can identify a friendly vehicle from 1,500 metres," he said.
The Times said first two Scimitars in the convoy exploded into flames
and one of the crew did not manage to escape.
Britain has so far lost 24 troops in the Iraq war. Five have been
killed in action, 14 in accidents and five in so-called "friendly fire"
incidents, killed by their own side in the conflict.
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