US Soldier Admits Throwing Fatal Grenade

A US special army forces soldier, believed to have killed a British aid worker accidentally, may face formal disciplinary action for not informing his commanders that he had thrown a grenade until long after the incident.

Sources in London and Kabul confirmed that Linda Norgrove managed to flee her abductors and lie in a curled up position to prevent harm, during the raid on captors' hideway. The soldier failed to see her and threw a grenade towards the hideway that exploded near her.

The rescue mission was shown on six TVs at the control centre, still the aid worker's death was initially attributed to a militant detonating his suicide jacket- a story that was reported all over the world.

The use of the fragmentation grenade first came to light when the commanding officer reassessed footage of the assault and noticed that a grenade was tossed into the compound seconds before the explosion.

Only the autopsy results will determine the real cause of death but senior officials are almost certain that inquiry will show that the grenade led to the death.

Senior US commanders, including General David Petraeus are believed to be highly distressed that wrong information about the rescue mission was provided to the UK government initially.

''Petraeus was very clear that he wanted to flag something was wrong with the original account,'" according to a source at UK Minister David Cameron's office. ''They took another look at the video and immediately called us.''

Norgrove's family has offered thanks to the US forces for ''not sweeping under the carpet'' the facts of the incident.