Nine British soldiers hurt by friendly fire

Six of the nine British soldiers hurt in a friendly fire incident in southern Afghanistan have returned to duty after treatment, the Ministry of Defence said on Friday.

Two of the others are still in hospital and one has been flown back to Britain in a stable condition, it added.

The nine were on patrol near the British forward operating base Gibraltar on Thursday when they came under fire and called in air support.

An Apache helicopter gunship responded and after hitting one Taliban position moved to another target which the crew believed was also occupied by Taliban.

However, the occupants turned out to be the British paratroopers.

'An investigation is underway into how the incident occurred and it would be inappropriate to comment until that investigation is complete,' the Ministry said.