No reports air support resulted in French casualties: Pentagon

[maddezmom]

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_JrSF_-quNQ

---

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/2008/08/2008820131543116429.html

[saigon68]

1. OOPS

"Bring Em On" shouted the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

[coalition_unwilling]

4. Support our Oops! - n/t

[billyoc]

2. Come on, how is the survivors saying that's what happened translated into "no information"?

:wtf:

[jeff30997]

3. It happened to Canadians troops too:

"The Tarnak Farm incident refers to the accidental killing of four Canadian soldiers and the injury of eight others from the Third Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3PPCLI) on the night of April 18, 2002 by an American F-16 fighter jet. The aircraft, piloted by U.S. Air National Guard Major Harry Schmidt, dropped a laser-guided 227-kilogram (500 lb) bomb on the Canadians who were conducting a night firing exercise at Tarnak Farms, near Kandahar, Afghanistan"

The pilot was stoned:

"One of the issues highlighted by the Inquiry related to the use of "go pills" (amphetamines) in combat. In testimony it was revealed that Schmidt and Umbach were told by their superiors to use "go pills" on their missions, and blamed the incident on the drugs."

And finally:

"On September 11, 2002, the U.S. pilots, Majors Harry Schmidt and William Umbach were officially charged with 4 counts of negligent manslaughter, 8 counts of aggravated assault, and 1 count of dereliction of duty. Umbach's charges were later dismissed. Schmidt's charges were reduced (on June 30, 2003) to just the dereliction of duty charge. On July 6, 2004 U.S. Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson found Schmidt guilty of dereliction of duty in what the U.S. military calls a "non-judicial hearing" before a senior officer. Schmidt was fined nearly $5,700 in pay and reprimanded."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarnak_Farm_incident

[shadowknows69]

5. Must have been the Taliban Air Force I guess

[ohio2007]

6. Leak may have led to Taliban ambush on French

Leak may have led to Taliban ambush on French
Wednesday 27 August 2008

snip

A few hours before the soldiers departed on their mission on August 18, the interpreter who was supposed to accompany the small patrol disappeared,” said an article on Wednesday in Le Canard Enchaîné. According to FRANCE 24 sources, this version of the facts was given to journalists by soldiers who had participated in the mission while they were being treated at the French military hospital in Kabul.According to the newspaper, French officials speaking anonymously admitted that the insurgents knew about the French patrol’s mission “through the missing interpreter, or through Afghan police or soldiers.”



Franck Berruyer, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Kabul, said that the presence of heavy artillery was clear evidence of an information leak. “Heavy mortars had been set up at the spot. The Taliban do not walk about with these weapons – you set them up when you know you’re going to use them.”


The French weekly goes on to say that “right at the beginning of the ambush, four of the French soldiers were imprisoned and executed by the insurgents.” No source is, however, attributed to this information.


snip

Military slip-up?



The Canard Enchaîné on Wednesday also published extracts of a report submitted by a high-ranking French army officer on May 4 warning of “violent” and “increasing” clashes in the area where the ambush took place. This suggests, according to the newspaper, that the French army was aware of the dangers involved.



http://www.france24.com/en/20080827-canard-enchaine-taliban-ambush-afghanistan-france-patrol-french-soldiers&navi=MONDE

Their Afghan interpreter died just the same for selling them out but this article doesn't mention any airstrike taking place.


This was the deadliest attack on French soldiers since a 1983 bombing in Beirut which killed 58 paratroopers.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fa6_1219238200


French Soldiers Engaging Talibans


http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d51_1219188659