U.S. forces may have killed Afghanistan aid worker

KABUL - At first, NATO blamed a Taliban bomb for the death of a captive British aid worker during an American rescue attempt in eastern Afghanistan.

Two days later, the coalition changed its account, saying yesterday that U.S. forces may have detonated a grenade that killed Linda Norgrove during the operation to free her.

British Prime Minister David Cameron defended Friday's rescue mission, saying his government authorized it only after learning that Norgrove's life was in grave danger. The U.S. military, which carried out the raid because the aid worker was being held in a region under American command, said it would investigate the incident with British cooperation.

The U.S.-led NATO force has historically been slow to acknowledge friendly fire deaths in Afghanistan. Drawn-out investigations mean findings can come weeks or months after an incident. But an increased focus on preventing civilian deaths has led NATO over the past year to push for quicker reporting on mistakes.

Norgrove, 36, from Scotland's Isle of Lewis, worked on a U.S.-funded aid project for Development Alternatives Inc., a Bethesda, Md.-based organization. She was abducted in an ambush on Sept. 26 while driving toward Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, according to Afghan officials. She was to oversee projects in the area.

Three Afghan colleagues were also captured in the ambush but all were released later.

Norgrove died Friday night, nearly two weeks after being captured, when U.S. Special Forces stormed the Taliban compound where she was being held in Kunar province.

In its initial statement Saturday, NATO said Norgrove was killed when captors detonated a bomb during the attack.

But then the rescue mission leader saw surveillance footage of the incident, had discussions with other team members and decided "it was not conclusive what the cause of her death was," said Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman at NATO headquarters in Kabul.

- AP