A British aid worker who died in an attempt to rescue her from her Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade detonated by US troops, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday.
Linda Norgrove, 36, was abducted on September 26 in eastern Afghanistan and killed in the failed US-led operation on Friday. British officials had earlier said she died when one of her captors blew up a suicide vest.
Mr Cameron said an immediate investigation had been launched into Ms Norgrove’s death but he defended the attempt to rescue her, saying that she had been in “grave danger” from the moment she was captured.
He said the top US officer in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, informed him yesterday that a review of the raid “revealed evidence to indicate that Linda may not have died at the hands of her captors as originally believed.”
“Linda could have died as a result of a grenade detonated by the task force during the assault. However this is not certain and a full US-UK investigation will now be launched,” Mr Cameron told a news conference at Downing Street.
Ms Norgrove was working for US development group DAI when she and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped while travelling in Kunar province, a hotbed of Taliban activity in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.
Foreign Secretary William Hague told parliament he gave the green light for the operation because the kidnappers were linked to the Taliban, and it was feared they could hand Norgrove to Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan.
“At no stage was any serious attempt made by those holding her to negotiate,” Mr Hague said, adding that her captors aimed to “pass her further up the Taliban command chain to make her more inaccessible.”
Once hostages are taken to Pakistan, particularly the tribal region where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding, tracking their whereabouts becomes far more difficult. Western troops are also barred from operating there.
Mr Hague said that “every indication we had (initially) was that Linda had been killed by the explosion of a suicide vest worn by one of her captors” but that was now in doubt.
In Kabul, a US military statement confirmed that General Petraeus had ordered the investigation “immediately following additional information developed by the military commander in charge of the rescue operation.”
It said initial reports indicated the blast was triggered by her captors but added: “Subsequent review of surveillance footage and discussions with members of the rescue team do not conclusively determine the cause of her death.”
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he would await the outcome of the investigation.