Blair seeks to comfort chastened UK troops

11.45am

LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has told his troops in the Gulf that their campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is going to plan despite a third deadly air accident in as many days.

The accident -- US troops shot down a British Tornado fighter as it returned to base near the Kuwaiti border -- underscored the perils of waging round-the-clock strikes on Iraq and spawned anger and bewilderment among British troops.

The group captain in charge of the Tornado squadron described the "friendly fire" tragedy as "a huge blow to the detachment and particularly to their squadron".

Britain's Ministry of Defence confirmed on Sunday the two-man crew of the Royal Air Force Tornado were dead.

"We can confirm that they were both killed in action," a ministry spokesman said.

In a broadcast on the British Forces Broadcasting Service today, Blair said the accident, which followed helicopter crashes on Friday and Saturday in which 14 British troops died, were the bitter fruits of a necessary war.

"These things are never easy," Blair said from his Downing Street home. "There will be some difficult times ahead but it is going to plan despite the tragedies that there were."

Looking tired, as he has for months during the tortured build-up to war, Blair also said pictures of captured American troops, broadcast on Iraqi television, showed why President Saddam Hussein had to be toppled.

"Sometimes when people ask me is it really necessary to get rid of Saddam? I say look at the things he does," Blair said. "Parading people in that way is contrary to the Geneva Convention, contrary to all the proper rules of conflict."

In another reminder of the dangers of warfare, British TV company ITN said it believed its veteran correspondent Terry Lloyd had been killed in Iraq and the fate of his two colleagues remained unknown.

The three men went missing on Saturday after coming under fire, possibly from British forces, near Basra, while driving towards the port city in two vehicles.

"We believe his body to be in Basra hospital, which is still under Iraqi control," ITN said. "Two members of his team -- Fred Nerac and Hussein Osman -- are still missing and ITN so far has no information on their whereabouts or condition."

The Tornado debacle handed the British their first "friendly fire" casualties of the war and rekindled unhappy memories from the 1991 Gulf War, when nine British soldiers were killed by a bomb dropped by an American "tankbuster" plane.

The government said an urgent review was under way.

The Tornado was blown apart by a US Patriot missile, which is designed to intercept enemy missiles. The news was withheld from the crews of another formation of Tornados waiting to take off from the Ali Al Salem airbase.

"I am missing two very good men," a visibly upset Group Captain Simon Dobb said. "They were both experienced Tornado aircrew, excellent at their job, courageous and committed to the job they were asked to do.

"They were not lost in combat but on returning from a combat mission. This is a huge blow to the detachment and particularly to their squadron."

Officials were keen to stress the losses thus far were slight in comparison to the number of missions flown, but it was the third allied tragedy in as many days.

A US Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait on Friday, killing eight British soldiers and four US Marines.

On Saturday, two Royal Navy helicopters from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal -- Britain's flagship in the war -- collided in mid-air, killing six Britons and one American.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq