Not All Deaths in Afghanistan Are Down to the Enemy

Of the 100 British servicemen killed in Afghanistan since the US-led war against the Taliban began in 2001, more than one in five were the result, not of enemy action, but of accidents. This may seem surprising. However, a single incident accounted for most of these deaths - the crash of an aging Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft, killing all 14 on board, near Kandahar on September 2 2006. An RAF board of inquiry concluded that failure by the MoD to ensure the safety of the plane, specifically the potential hazard of fuel passing close to hot air pipes, almost certainly caused the explosion. The coroner at the inquest accused the RAF of a "cavalier approach to safety".

Inadequate equipment, including lightly-armored vehicles, has contributed to the deaths of British soldiers by enemy action and in accidents. Meanwhile, the "fog of war" still leads to fatal "friendly fire", despite the latest high-tech communications and weapons systems. This has caused the deaths of four British servicemen in Afghanistan. Here there is the added problem of engaging small formations of enemy fighters, often close to allied troops. In August last year three British soldiers were killed when two American F15 fighter-bombers were summoned to help British soldiers under attack by the Taliban. The following month, British troops killed two Danish soldiers with Javelin heat-seeking missiles aimed at the enemy.

Then there are other kinds of accidents - the first deaths of British servicemen in Iraq were the result of a US marine corps Sea Knight helicopter crashing in Kuwait, killing eight British commandos. In Afghanistan, four British soldiers have been killed in traffic accidents since 2001, and just one in a helicopter crash - scarcely surprising give the tempo of operations and state of the roads there. The 27 deaths in Afghanistan resulting from non-hostile incidents also included a fight at a barbecue which led to one soldier being murdered and another killing himself.

Is Afghanistan a particularly clumsy war? In the view of some military analysts, the normal rate of accidental deaths should be more like 10%, although the picture in Iraq has also been relatively high. A total of 201 British service men and women died last year, according to figures published by the MoD's defense Analytical Services Agency. While Iraq and Afghanistan have pushed up the numbers killed in action since 2001, the death toll from accidents - 80 last year - has seen little change over the years.