The incident happened in Afghan-istan when an Apache helicopter fired on troops from the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment, based at Colchester, who were on routine patrol.

The incident last Wednesday left three soldiers seriously injured and wounded another six.

An MoD statement said: "At 12.27pm, a routine British patrol requested fire support from a British Apache helicopter gunship when they encount-ered enemy forces near Forward Operating Base Gibraltar.

"After successfully engaging one enemy position, the Apache fired upon another position, which the crew believed to be held by enemy forces.

"However, in the confusion of a rapidly changing situation and in what is a challenging environment, it would appear that friendly forces were mistaken for the enemy and, as a result, three members of the patrol were seriously wounded and six more were classified as walking wounded.

"The wounded personnel were moved by helicopter to Camp Bastion medical facilities. Six have now been discharged and returned to service. Three remain in medical care. Next of kin have been informed.

"An investigation is under way into how the incident occurred and it would be inappropriate to comment until that investigation is complete."

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