The U.S. military has found that 35 of the 148 servicemen killed in action during the Persian Gulf war were victims of "friendly fire," the Pentagon said.
Seventy-two servicemen were wounded in similar accidental fire from their own side, Pentagon officials said at a briefing Tuesday. The military had logged 467 wounded in action during the conflict.The figures released Tuesday were far higher than ever before acknowledged by military officials.
In a statement, the Pentagon said it had identified 28 incidents in which U.S. forces mistakenly engaged other American forces.
Of the 28 cases, 16 were ground-to-ground engagements in which 24 servicemen died and 57 were wounded; nine were air-to-ground engagements in which 11 were killed and 15 were wounded, the statement said.
No casualties resulted from one ship-to-ship, one shore-to-ship and one ground-to-air engagement, the statement said.
"We regret these incidents of friendly fire and the delay in concluding our review," said Col. Roger Brown, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations.