Errant U.S. missile kills 4 Canadians

KEN GUGGENHEIM, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Thursday, April 18, 2002

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. fighter jet dropped at least one laser-guided bomb on Canadian forces in Afghanistan during a live-fire training exercise Wednesday. Canadian officials said four soldiers were killed and eight were injured.

Navy Commander Frank Merriman, spokesman for Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said an Air National Guard F-16 dropped one or two 500-pound bombs near Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold. Neither U.S. nor Canadian officials had information about what caused the error. The countries plan a joint investigation.

"How this can happen is a mystery to us. Without a doubt, there was a misidentification," Canada's defense chief, Lt. Gen. Ray Henault told reporters in Ottawa.

Canadian Defense officials said their soldiers were on a nighttime training exercise about 10 miles south of their Kandahar base when the bombing occurred.

Henault said the area is recognized as a training area and the aircraft were using very strictly controlled routes.

Six soldiers, including one who was seriously hurt, will be evacuated to a U.S. medical facility. Two other soldiers suffered minor injuries.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien said President Bush called to offer his condolences and vowed to cooperate with a Canadian investigation.

"As to the circumstances of what appears to have been a terrible accident, clearly there are many questions that the families, and all Canadians, expect to have answered," Chretien said.

Canadian forces are fighting alongside U.S. and European troops seeking to hunt down remnants of Osama bin Laden's organization and holdouts from Afghanistan's Taliban militia.

On Dec. 5, a B-52A dropped a bomb on U.S. and Afghan forces near Kandahar, killing three Americans and at least seven Afghans, and slightly wounding Hamid Karzai, now Afghanistan's interim leader. The investigation isn't complete, but officials have said there were errors in transmitting target coordinates to the B-52.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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