Sad News

American special forces were within "seconds" of rescuing the kidnapped British aid worker Linda Norgrove when she was fatally wounded by a suicidal explosion triggered by one of her captors, Nato said yesterday.

Details of how close the pre-dawn operation came to freeing the 36-year-old from a mud-walled compound in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan emerged during a briefing in the capital, Kabul.

US soldiers had already fought their way into the stronghold in the village of Dineshgal, in Kunar province, when the blast occurred on Saturday. One of the kidnappers is believed to have been wearing a suicide vest and standing beside Norgrove when it detonated.

After US medics reached her they gave emergency first aid and evacuated her by helicopter. She died shortly afterwards. Seven insurgents were reported to have been killed in the raid.

The blast occured "seconds before rescuers arrived", a Nato military spokesman said yesterday. "[US special forces] had entered the compound … [but] an insurgent detonated an explosive device that was attached to his person. He was in close enough proximity to Ms Norgrove. She was wounded. Soldiers – who were on the scene very, very shortly afterwards – attempted to provide medical care at the scene. She was evacuated straight away but succumbed to her wounds."

Her grieving family, gathered in their croft on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, were yesterday waiting to be given a full account of the events since her abduction before issuing a statement.

Her 60-year-old father, John, a retired civil engineer, and her 62-year-old mother, Lorna, who launched the charity Western Isles Beach Clean Up, were too upset to talk. They were joined during the day by Linda's sister Sofie. The family had already recorded a video pleading for her release but the Foreign Office had advised that publicising her identity at that stage would only place her at greater risk.

The rescue mission came three weeks after Norgrove was seized by insurgents as she drove from Jalalabad, where she worked for the US aid organisation Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), to inspect an irrigation project she had overseen.

An intrepid traveller, Norgrove had risked the journey into one of Afghanistan's more dangerous districts in the company of three trusted local workers. After her Afghan staff companions were liberated by their captors, the security forces became fearful that Norgrove was about to be taken over the nearby border into Pakistan. Tribal leaders were reported to have been trying to negotiate her release from Dineshgal, where she was being held. They complained their efforts were hindered after local roads were blocked by coalition troops.

Tributes to Norgrove's dedication poured in over the weekend. Although she grew up in the Outer Hebrides, the family would spend five weeks every second winter in third world countries.

After gaining a first class degree at Aberdeen University, she researched how national park management in Uganda affected the indigenous population and eventually secured a PhD from Manchester University in 2002. She became an environmental specialist at the World Wildlife Fund in Peru before going on to work for the UN in Afghanistan and Laos.

Norgrove had returned recently to Afghanistan to join DAI. Its chief executive, James Boomgard, said: "Linda loved Afghanistan and cared deeply for its people, and she was deeply committed to her development mission. She was an inspiration to many of us."

Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, said: "Ms Norgrove was a dedicated aid worker who was doing everything she could to help people in Afghanistan – hopefully that legacy of service in a humanitarian cause can be of some comfort to her loved ones in their time of grief."

The foreign secretary, William Hague, defended the decision to launch a rescue operation. "Responsibility for this tragic outcome rests squarely with the hostage-takers," he insisted. "From the moment they took her, her life was under grave threat. Given who held her, and the danger she was in, we judged that Linda's best chance lay in attempting to rescue her."

In the aftermath of the third fatality among British aid workers in Afghanistan since the summer, both the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development insisted there were no plans to alter advice given to those travelling into potentially hostile regions.

In July, Shaun Sexton, 29, from Northumberland, a former member of the Parachute Regiment, died during an attack on DAI offices in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. He had been working as a security guard. A month later the British doctor Karen Woo and nine others were killed by gunmen in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan in what police said was a robbery. She had been with Christian International Assistance Mission, a charity providing eye care in remote villages.

Community devastated as hope turns to grief

Among the windswept, isolated crofting community in the Outer Hebrides where Linda Norgrove grew up, many came forward yesterday to offer condolences to her family as they tried to come to terms with their loss.

Norgrove, who grew up in the settlement of Mangersta, in the district of Uig on the Isle of Lewis, was remembered as both "caring and clever" by one her teachers and praised for commitment to overseas aid.

Margaret Macleod, who taught Linda and her younger sister, Sofie, said: "She was a truly lovely girl. She was always concerned about the welfare of her friends and classmates. She was a bright, caring and calm girl and I hoped those qualities would help her in the situation she faced.

"The whole community is devastated and deeply upset – heartbroken by her death. Her parents are really wonderful and caring people. Linda's mother, Lorna, was inspired by her daughter's work in the third world to get involved in things like Water Aid. It is an absolute tragedy what has happened."

The family were remembered in prayers at Uig Church yesterday. Its Church of Scotland minister, Hugh Stewart, said: "We have been praying for the family and Linda's safe release since she was taken. Sadly this has ended tragically and the whole community is feeling this very badly and deeply. It is a very close-knit community. We will continue to remember the family in our prayers."

The area's former GP, John Hay, added: "We watch the horrors of Afghanistan on television without thinking it will touch a place like this. But this tragic incident brings home that the war even impinges here and shows that the effects of the conflict in Afghanistan can reach anywhere.

"The whole community will feel this loss very badly and will be devastated by it. The Norgroves are a well respected and much liked and admired family. Our hearts and prayers go out to them."