U.S rescuers may have killed Briton held by Taliban

Prime Minister David Cameron says that British aid worker Linda Norgrove was possibly killed by a grenade thrown by a member of the special forces rescue team

NATO will investigate whether a grenade thrown by American military forces killed a British aid worker during a rescue attempt in Afghanistan last week.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was killed on Friday in the raid by US forces in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, after she and three colleagues were kidnapped two weeks earlier. NATO initially said Norgrove died when Taliban captors detonated a suicide bomb.

However, Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday that Norgrove, who worked for US funded Development Alternatives Inc, was possibly killed by a grenade thrown by a member of the US special forces rescue team.

Cameron defended the decision to attempt the risky rescue mission, saying: 'We were clear that Linda's life was in grave danger and the operation offered the best chance of saving her life.'

The Prime Minister authorised the rescue mission with Foreign Secretary William Hague in what aides said was his first hands-on life or death decision. ‘It’s a judgment, it’s a balance,' the Prime Minister said. ‘I will go over in my own mind 100 times whether it was the right decision, but I believe it was.’

Mr. Cameron appeared at pains not to sound reproving of American actions in the rescue attempt, in which at least six Taliban fighters were also killed.

In his statement to the House of Commons, Mr Hague seemed more reassured, saying: ‘We should also remember that ultimately the responsibility for Linda’s death lies with those who took her hostage.'

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