British soldiers killed in mortar attack in Afghanistan

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Conal Urquhart
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 May 2012 19.44 BST

Two British soldiers have been killed in a mortar attack on an army base in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

The two men were members of the Royal Logistics Corps and were attached to the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh Battlegroup. Their families have been informed.

The soldiers were in forward operating base Ouellette, in the northern part of Nahr-e Saraj district, in Helmand province, when it came under "indirect" mortar fire from Taliban fighters on Friday.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/04/british-soldiers-killed-mortar-afghanistan

[Adsos Letter]

1. ..."indirect" mortar fire...

Is there any other kind?

[bemildred]

2. Well, I suppose you could point the tube right at something ...

[happyslug]

3. We were trained to do "direct fire"

But the round still went up and then down, but we could see the target and were the round landed and make the corrections to hit the target ourselves as opposed to through the FDC (Fire Direction Command).

[bemildred]

4. Yes, I suppose that is the correct distinction.

My acquaintenace with the subject was also "indirect", battle sims, but I do remember that was the idea, shooting at something you could see as opposed to working with a "spotter". I wouldn't think holding a mortar when it was fired was actually a good idea.