US bomb kills 3 British soldiers in Afghanistan

KABUL, Aug 24 (Reuters) Three British soldiers were killed by a bomb dropped by US aircraft supporting them in a battle against Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the British military said today.

The incident yesterday takes the number of British deaths in Afghanistan since the Taliban was toppled in 2001 to 73.

Two other soldiers were wounded in the incident which took place after the troops were attacked during a patrol northwest of Kajaki where US contractors are reconstructing a large dam meant to bring electricity to southern Afghanistan.

''The guys were out on a routine patrol last night northwest of Kajaki,'' said a British military spokesman in Helmand. ''They came into quite an intensive fight and during that fight they called in close air support which was provided by two US F-15 aircraft.'' A single bomb was dropped by the aircraft.

''We called in fire onto what in this case were the Taliban ... either the position was inaccurate or there was a problem with the bomb,'' the spokesman said.

Afghan officials have criticised foreign forces for killing dozens of civilians in the last two year with inaccurate air strikes.

The British Ministry of Defence said a thorough investigation would be launched.

REUTERS PD VC1932