'Friendly fire' hits convoy

[MIKE BURN]

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Last Updated: Sunday, 6 April, 2003, 09:55 GMT 10:55 UK



An American warplane has bombed a Kurdish convoy in northern Iraq which included members of US special forces.



The BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson, who was travelling with the convoy, says he counted at least 10 bodies and others wounded.



It is the latest in a series of "friendly fire" incidents involving coalition forces during the Iraq war.



A senior Kurdish political figure, who was travelling in the convoy, appears to have been injured.



Simpson, who suffered minor injuries in the attack, said the bomb was dropped from a US plane 10 to 12 feet (about four metres) from where he was standing.



He described a "scene from hell", with all the vehicles in the convoy on fire and bodies - American and Kurdish - lying around.



The convoy contained between eight and 10 cars, two of which contained US special forces.



Kurdish forces, backed by the US, are advancing south from their self-ruled enclave in northern Iraq on the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, held by Saddam Huseein's forces.

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