There have been many thousands of friendly fire incidents in recorded military history, accounting for an estimated 2% to 20% of all casualties in battle. [1] [2] The examples listed below illustrate their range and diversity, but this does not reflect increasing frequency. The rate of friendly fire, once allowance has been made for the numbers of troops committed to battle, has remained remarkably stable over the past 200 years. [3]
It has been estimated that there may have been as many as 8,000 friendly fire incidents in the Vietnam War; [2] [296] [297] [298] one was the inspiration for the book and film Friendly Fire .
During the 1982 Lebanon War, the worst friendly fire incident in the history of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) took place. On 10 June 1982, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) mistook a column of IDF Nahal Brigade forces for a Syrian commando unit. An IAF F-4 Phantom attacked members of Battalion 931, advancing in open Armoured Personnel Carriers in south-eastern Lebanon with cluster munitions. The unit suffered 24 soldiers killed and 108 wounded, with a further 30 soldiers shell shocked. [325] [326] [327]
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