By IRNA,
London : A US commando is expected to face disciplinary action after being blamed for the death of British aid worker Linda Norgrove during last week’s rescue operation in Afghanistan, it was reported Thursday.
The soldier from the US elite Seal Six Team special forces failed to see Norgrove, who had broke away from her captors, and tossed a fragmentation grenade, which exploded next to her, according to sources in Kabul and London quoted by the Guardian newspaper.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced that a joint US-UK investigation had been launched after admitting the Scottish aid worker may have been killed in Afghanistan by US forces and not by her local captors as previously claimed.
The Guardian said it had learned that the US commando is likely to face disciplinary action after failing to inform his commanding officers that he had used a grenade until long after the event.
It also reported that US forces monitored the kidnappers using a network of informers and drones and that conversations were intercepted indicating Norgrove could be executed ‘like the Russian’ or shipped across the Pakistan border
British officers working with the Americans were said to have been kept informed of the intelligence at all times and that the entire recue mission was relayed on to six widescreen televisions back at the command centre
Norgrove’s death was first attributed to an insurgent detonating a suicide vest – an account that was reported around the world until Cameron’s announcement on Monday.
It is not yet known why a fragmentation grenade was thrown as opposed to a smoke grenade or a stun grenade that are more commonly used in a hostage rescue.
Concern has already been raised over the failed military rescue attempt, with local police chiefs in the mountainous Kunar region reportedly saying that they wanted negotiations to continue to try to secure the Scottish aid worker’s release.