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Rescuers may have killed UK Afghan aid worker: Cameron

11 October 2010 20:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A British hostage who died in Afghanistan on Friday during a U.S.-led rescue mission may have been accidentally killed by the troops trying to save her, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Linda Norgrove, 36, who worked for a U.S. aid group, had been abducted on September 26 along with three Afghan co-workers when they visited a project in a remote part of Kunar province, a lawless region bordering Pakistan.
Britain’s Foreign Office had said on Saturday that Norgrove had been killed by her captors during a failed rescue attempt.
Cameron said General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, had contacted his office to say a review of events had revealed evidence indicating that Norgrove may not have died at the hands of her captors.
"That evidence, and subsequent interviews with the personnel involved, suggests that Linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault," Cameron told a news conference at his Downing Street office.
"However, this is not certain, and a full U.S.-UK investigation will now be launched," he said.
Cameron said he took full responsibility for authorizing the operation to rescue the aid worker. He said intelligence at the time suggested Norgrove was about to be passed "up the terrorist chain of command," placing her in an even more dangerous situation, and hence it had been urgent to act.
"BEST CHANCE"
Cameron also said it was right that U.S. forces had attempted the rescue as Norgrove was being held in an area where military operations were under U.S. control.
"We were clear that Linda’s life was in grave danger and the operation offered the best chance of saving her life," he said.
The U.S. military in Kabul confirmed Petraeus had ordered an investigation into Norgrove’s death.
Her kidnapping highlighted the dangers faced by aid workers in Afghanistan, where insurgents and other armed groups hold sway in many parts of the country.
The rescue attempt was not the first such operation. A raid that freed New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell, a Briton, from his Afghan captors last year provoked anger after his Afghan colleague and a British soldier were killed.
Cameron said Norgrove’s family had been informed of the new information and he had personally spoken with Norgrove’s father.
"My thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country are with them as they come to terms with the death of their daughter and this deeply distressing development.
"I want to assure Mr and Mrs Norgrove that I will do everything I possibly can to establish the full facts and give them certainty about how their daughter died."
Cameron praised the efforts of soldiers involved in the rescue mission.
"General Petraeus ... and U.S. forces did everything in their power to bring Linda home safely. We should remember that Linda was being held at a remote location high in the mountains. This was a very difficult operation.
"Ultimately the responsibility for Linda’s death lies with those who took her hostage."