19 soldiers injured in friendly fires in war exercise

Lop Buri - Nineteen soldiers were injured, four severely, when they were shot at by a helicopter supposed to provide them air backup during a raid as part of a war exercise here Wednesday.

Sources said the mishap happened at about 10 am during an exercise on raiding by a battalion of the Lop Bur-based Special Warfare Command.

Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Anupong Paochinda witnessed the war exercise.

As part of the exercise, some 20 soldiers were flown on a helicopter to mount an attack on the enemies.

The soldiers were supposed to run to their destination while another helicopter was supposed to fire at the enemies to cover them. However, the friendly fires from the helicopter hit the soldiers.

They were rushed to the Ananda Mahidol Hospital.

The Nation