US grenade 'killed Linda Norgrove'

Members of an elite US special forces team have been disciplined by military authorities over a botched rescue attempt which resulted in the death of kidnapped British aid worker Linda Norgrove.

Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed that she was killed by a grenade thrown by a US soldier during the attempt to free her after she was taken hostage in Afghanistan earlier this year.

It was initially reported that an explosive suicide vest detonated by her captors caused Ms Norgrove’s death in October but it later emerged her injuries were the result of the grenade thrown during a firefight at the compound where she was held.

In a Commons statement Mr Hague said a joint US-UK investigation “found that the failure to disclose information that a grenade was thrown breached US military law.

“As a result members of the rescue team have been disciplined for failing to provide a complete and full account of their actions in accordance with US military procedure.”

Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to meet Ms Norgrove’s parents to discuss the report’s findings, Mr Hague added.

Mr Hague defended the decision to launch a raid to rescue Ms Norgrove, who was taken hostage on September 26.

He told MPs the team selected to carry out the operation on October 8 had “specialist training and experience in carrying out hostage rescue operations”.

Mr Hague said: “We judged that Linda Norgrove’s life was in grave danger from the moment she was abducted, and we feared that her captors would pass her higher up the Taliban chain of command or move her to more inaccessible terrain.

“We also judged that the only credible prospect of securing her release was through a rescue attempt, which is why I authorised such an attempt to be made.”