A SOLDIER seriously injured by a US military vehicle in Iraq will be flown home today to be reunited with her parents.

Military Police Corporal Jane McLaughlin suffered severe head injuries, a punctured lung, broken leg, ribs and pelvis, and a damaged liver following a road accident outside Ramala, in southern Iraq, last Wednesday.

Her family are angry that she was injured in yet another incident in which British soldiers were hurt or killed by the American military.

Their comments follow a series of "friendly fire incidents" during the Iraq war.

The 32-year-old, from Hartlepool, was thrown from the Land Rover she was driving at the head of a convoy after it was hit by a US Army vehicle and overturned. She was airlifted to a field hospital in Iraq, before being treated at a US hospital in Kuwait.

Her husband, Rob McLaughlin, 34, an acting staff sergeant also in the military police, will be flying back to Britain with his wife later today by RAF plane to Birmingham, where the corporal will be transferred by ambulance to the neuro department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

A joint investigation into the crash is being carried out by British and US forces, but Jane's parents, John and Pat Maddison, say they have been left angered and upset by the cause of the accident.

They say it is the latest in a line of incidents, committed by US military personnel, resulting in deaths and injuries of British soldiers since the Iraq conflict started.

Mrs Maddison, 60, of Spalding Road, said: "Jane is very poorly and at the moment is sedated. It is hard for us because she is thousands of miles away and we can't just pick up a telephone to find out how she is. Thankfully, she will be back in England and we can go to see her.

"Luckily, her husband has been able to stay at her bedside and give us regular updates.

"We have been told her body injuries will heal, but doctors are concerned about the head and brain injuries she received."

Mr and Mrs Maddison are going straight to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital later today.

Mrs Maddison said: "It is nice to know Jane will have company on her way home with Rob."

The corporal, who has served in the Army for four years, has so far undergone an operation to remove a blood clot from her brain and scans to assess the damage caused by the accident.

Jane's parents have been told she was driving the Land Rover at the head of a convoy, when a US Army vehicle at the head of another convoy tried to pull on the road she was on from a slip road.

It is believed the driver did not indicate and, as he tried to pull in front of Jane's vehicle hit the side causing it to overturn.

Mrs Maddison said she was angry at the cause of the accident, but said she believed the soldier of the US vehicle has been charged with a military offence after he failed to indicate.

She said: "I feel bitter about it. What annoys me is that if Jane had taken a bullet from the Iraqis then we would be worried, but would have realised it was part of the danger of the job.

"However, to be injured in an incident with somebody who is meant to be a friend, and after the war is over, is most annoying."

Mr Maddison, 60, a planning engineer, said: "The Americans seem to cause more damage than enough. When Jane and Rob went out there they said they would have to watch out for the Americans more than the Iraqis."

He added: "There were four of them in Jane's vehicle but she has got the worst injuries as she was driving and she and one of her passengers were thrown from the vehicle."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence last night said: "I can confirm that an incident had taken place and a joint investigation is now being carried out into the crash by British and US forces."