False information that Linda Norgrove was killed by an Afghan insurgent was issued because the team leader in the rescue operation assumed the captor had blown himself up, an inquest has heard.The aid worker was helping the Afghan people rebuild their war-torn country when she was taken hostage and then died during a rescue attempt.
The resumed inquest into her death heard that the visibility was so poor during the disastrous mission that her would-be rescuers could not see her.
It was initially said she had been killed by one of the insurgents who had abducted her, but it later emerged her death was caused by a grenade thrown by US special forces attempting to free her.
Giving evidence at Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner's Court in Trowbridge, Brigadier Robert Nitsch, who helped investigate the tragic incident, said: "The team leader, in a previous tour of Afghanistan, has witnessed an insurgent blowing himself up in front of him. In his mind, that is what has happened here.
"(This was) one of the contributing factors why it wasn't confirmed until later that Linda was killed by this grenade rather than by a suicide vest."
The team leader's mistaken belief contributed to the "false information given to the family and put in the public domain", he said.
British Brigadier Nitsch said a US soldier, named as team member five (TM5), had thrown the grenade as he feared his comrades were in danger and had been "thinking at a million miles a minute at this time".
The US force member was part of a team that ventured on to the hostile, mountainous terrain where Ms Norgrove, from the Western Isles, was being held, following some intelligence that she had been taken there.
The hearing was told that Ms Norgrove was killed just 59 seconds into the action amid very poor visibility after one of the team members "felt significantly under threat" and made a decision to throw a grenade.
Sounds like the Taliban were using her as a human shield. In any case, except in cases of gross negligence or murder, I feel the blame for her death falls squarely on them given their history of treatment of captives and the fact that they kidnapped her.