Associated Press reports that US Navy sailors who fired on a small boat off Dubai last year, killing one Indian fishermen and wounding three others acted within rules of engagement. 
The sailors onboard the USS Rappahannock, a supply vessel, were investigated by the US Navy who found that warning shots were fired by a gunner using .50 calibre tracer rounds as the Indian’s skiff approached the Rappahannock’s bow, around 10 miles off Jebel Ali port.
AP stated:
A gunner aboard the Rappahannock opened fire with the .50-caliber weapon moments before the order to begin “destructive fire,” but was deemed within the bounds of “self-defense in response to a hostile act or demonstrated hostile intent,” the investigation said.
“If I did not fire, I didn’t know what kind of damage would have occurred on the ship,” the sailor was quoted in the investigation, but he name was blacked out in the copy made public.
The investigation estimated that the skiff came within 27 metres of the US vessel. The Navy investigation was done without assistance from the UAE.
Via: http://www.naharnet.com/
