AN Army officer held his head in his hands and shouted “Stop, stop, stop” when he realised US Apache helicopters were attacking a British base and not a Taliban compound, an inquest into the death of a North-East soldier heard yesterday.
Lance Corporal Christopher Roney, 23, of 3rd Battalion The Rifles, died of head injuries suffered in an attack on Patrol Base Almas, in Sangin, Helmand, Afghanistan , in December 2009.
Under darkness, the base was rocked by a huge Taliban bomb and the 28-man platoon was in a firefight when British Army chiefs called in two US gunships to help.
But they fired on the base, despite the presence of a flagpole, machine gun, barbed wire and men in uniform, thinking it was an enemy stronghold.
Warrant Officer John Pepper told LCpl Roney’s inquest at Sunderland Coroner’s Court he watched on a screen as the helicopters made three strafing runs, firing 200 30mm chain gun rounds, before Captain Christopher Dadd became aware what was happening.
WO Pepper said: “Capt Dadd shouted, ‘Stop, stop, stop’. That was when everyone realised in the ops room they were attacking Patrol Base Almas. He had his head in his hands.”
At Almas, Captain Palmer Winstanley, the platoon commander, wept as he contacted the ops room to tell them to call off the Apaches, Lance Corporal Jonathan Cassell told the inquest.
“It seemed like he was in tears, saying, ‘Stop the Apaches, stop the Apaches’,” the sniper said.
Corporal Ben Hall said: “In our minds, we thought this was what the enemy were doing.
“The best thing we could do was fire too and hopefully whatever they were hitting us with would stop.”
Once the Apaches were called off, after 11 men were injured, an air strike was called in and a 500lb bomb ended a Taliban counterattack that had got within 30 metres of Almas’ mud walls.
LCpl Roney, from Sunderland, was evacuated but died the next day. He was married with a five-month-old son, William.
Major Tim Harris denied there was a “gung ho” attitude following a Taliban raid on Almas two nights before.
The hearing continues.
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