Update: US military shot villagers during Lakenheath rescue- claim
US military sources have refused to confirm or deny reports that US forces sent in to rescue two airmen after their plane crashed in Libya botched the mission and shot friendly villagers.
The plane, based at RAF Lakenheath, crashed on Monday at 9.30pm about 25 miles south-west of the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
A Marine Osprey search and rescue aircraft retrieved the pilot, while the second crew member, a weapons officer, was taken in by rebels and handed over to the US. Both suffered only minor injuries.
But it has been claimed that the rescue mission fired on Libyan villagers who were trying to help, wounding six of them and causing panic.
A Channel 4 News reporter in the country said the locals were in hospital.
The two crew members were separated after ejecting from the Suffolk-based F-15E Strike Eagle jet at high altitude and drifting down to different locations. A mechanical fault has been blamed for the incident.
The aircraft was flying out of Italy's Aviano Air Base in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
Most Read
- 1 Suffolk woman and her three dogs die in London crash
- 2 Seven beach walks with a cafe pit stop to try in Norfolk
- 3 Police stop 85 vehicles in one day amid safety crackdown
- 4 'Awe and disbelief' as thousands of bees swarm pub garden
- 5 Tomorrow's lunar eclipse: How and when to see it
- 6 Neighbours' tribute to crash victim who 'thought the world of her dogs'
- 7 Seaside bar taken over for three weeks by Hollywood crew shooting film
- 8 Century-old farm machinery firm invests £6m in its factory's future
- 9 Dog and group cut off by tide saved after being spotted waist-high in water
- 10 'Opulent' farmhouse with pond on sale for £799k
The US Air Force has B-2, F-15 and F-16 fighters participating in operations over Libya while the UK has deployed Tornados from RAF Marham and Typhoons.
A British reporter who was arrested at gunpoint by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's soldiers last week was due to be released last night.
Dave Clark, 38, was held with two other Western journalists after they ran into a military convoy on the road to the city of Ajdabiya in the east of the country on Saturday. A spokesman for Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency last night confirmed the group were due to be set free within hours.
