U.S. troops may have killed kidnapped British aid worker during failed rescue attempt

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.S. and British officials are investigating how a British aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan was killed during a failed rescue attempt by American troops, a mission that British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday may have inadvertently led to her death.

British officials initially announced that Linda Norgrove,
36, had been killed by her Taliban captors Friday during a rescue
attempt carried out by U.S. special forces. Norgrove was kidnapped
along with three Afghan colleagues two weeks ago in eastern Kunar
province while visiting a development project there. Militants had
earlier freed Norgrove’s Afghan co-workers.

However, on Monday, the U.S. military said in a
prepared statement that a review of surveillance footage and interviews
with members of the rescue team “do not conclusively determine the
cause of her death.” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, ordered an investigation into Norgrove’s death, the statement said.

In London,
Cameron told a news conference that Petraeus had told him Norgrove may
have been killed by a grenade thrown by a member of the U.S. rescue
team. Cameron said his foreign secretary, William Hague,
had given the go-ahead to launch the rescue effort after deciding that
Norgrove was at grave risk. Cameron said Hague’s decision had his
support.

“We were clear that Linda’s life was in grave danger
and the operation offered the best chance of saving her life,” Cameron
told reporters. “I will obviously go over in my mind 100 times whether
it was the right decision, but I profoundly believe it was.”

A former United Nations worker, Norgrove was working on a $150 million project for the U.S. aid group Development Alternatives Inc., aimed at strengthening local economies in Afghanistan.

The decision to forge ahead with a rescue mission
was made after NATO allies received a tip about Norgrove’s whereabouts.
Six militants holding Norgrove captive were also killed in the rescue
bid.

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