US silent on accidental killing of British soldier in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2032055,00.html

An incident in which a British soldier was accidentally killed by American pilots would not have happened had the US air force followed the same rules for opening fire as the British, an inquest heard today.

A British Forward Air Controller who was in the area when Lance Corporal Matty Hull was accidentally killed in Basra, southern Iraq, four years ago, told the inquest into his death that British pilots must adhere to strict checks before firing.

Corporal Stuart Matthews told the court that under UK rules, pilots must listen to and read back to their air controllers the location and coordinates of their targets, their direction of attack and the distance of friendly forces from the target, before they can open fire.

He said the Americans did not have such rules in place. Asked by Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker whether he thought the attack would have happened had UK rules been followed, Cpl Matthews replied: "I don't, sir."