Bob DeAngelis having a few friends over?

Monday, February 18, 2002

GIBRALTAR - The British military apologized Monday for invading Spain
over
the weekend - by mistake.

About 20 Royal Marines went slightly off course in an amphibious
exercise
and stormed a Spanish beach Sunday morning near the British colony of
Gibraltar, a British Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Residents of the Spanish border town of La Linea watched in astonishment
as
the beach filled with combat-ready troops wielding mortar launchers and
SA
80 assault rifles, according to Spanish press reports, which said at
least
30 troops were involved.

Spanish television station Telecinco showed footage of an advance team
in
combat fatigues dashing through the surf to a beach several yards from
the
border, with paratroopers dotting the sky in the background.

Spain's Efe news agency said the soldiers left after several
Gibraltarian
fishermen and local police officers told them they were on Spanish soil.

The accidental incursion came at a delicate time in negotiations between
Spain and Britain over the future of Gibraltar, where Britain
established a
military base in 1704.

The 2.5-square-mile territory was formally ceded to Britain under the
Treaty
of Utrecht in 1713. Gibraltar is an irritant to British-Spanish
relations
and the two countries are trying to reach an agreement, that would
include
the colony's internal self-governance, by summer.

The spokesman, who could not be identified under Defense Ministry rules,
said the "regrettable and embarrassing" error lasted no more than five
minutes.

He said the mishap was likely caused by a map-reading error, although
details of an investigation carried out on board the HMS Ocean
helicopter
carrier, where the soldiers came from, were being kept secret.

Local police spokesman David Iria said the mistake was understandable,
because it is "difficult to know exactly where you are" on the poorly
marked
coastline.

The HMS Ocean, which had stopped at Gibraltar for maintenance, was
heading
to the Indian Ocean to support military operations in Afghanistan, the