
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990                   TAG: 9006190518
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

ARMY DISPUTES NEWSWEEK ACCOUNT

The Pentagon, disputing a report that nine U.S. soldiers were accidentally killed by their comrades during the Panama invasion, says two - and possibly a third - died in that manner.

Twenty-three American servicemen were killed during the December military operation.

In a statement issued Monday, the Defense Department also took issue with a Newsweek magazine report that so-called "friendly fire" was responsible for wounding as many as 60 percent of the more than 300 U.S. soldiers injured in the Dec. 20 invasion.

The report in the June 25 Newsweek issue quoted unidentified military officials as the source of its information.

The Pentagon statement said, "Of the 324 American servicemen wounded in action during Operation Just Cause, 19 were definitely the result of friendly fire."

The statement added that an additional 21 soldiers were injured during intense fighting in the vicinity of the Commandancia, the headquarters of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, "by either friendly or enemy fire."

"We cannot distinguish which of the 21 were hit by friendly or enemy fire," the statement said.

The two servicemen killed as a result of friendly fire died during the battle at Rio Hato, where Army Rangers were dropped as part of Task Force Red southwest of Panama City, the statement added.

"In the case of one additional serviceman killed in action, it has not been determined if his death was a direct result of friendly or enemy fire. The circumstances of his death are under investigation," the statement said.

The statement did not say where that death occurred.

by CNB