The Associated Press
U.S. soldiers walk by an American and a Canadian flag at half-staff on the runway of the Kandahar airport in Afghanistan on Thursday. Four Canadian soldiers were killed Wednesday when a U.S. F-16 dropped a bomb on Canadian forces. Eight Canadian soldiers were also wounded.

Green

Leger

Smith

Death of Canadians pinned on pilot's mistake

Canada, U.S. investigate error that killed four in Afghanistan

JOHN HENDREN AND DAVID ZUCCHINO, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Originally published Friday, April 19, 2002

KANDAHAR, Afghan- istan -- The U.S. F-16 pilot who dropped a bomb that killed four Canadian soldiers early Thursday acted because flashes of gunfire from a training exercise led him to believe he was under attack, Pentagon officials said.

The deaths were Canada's first battlefield casualties since the Korean War.

The deaths dominated Canadian news reports Thursday, with the names of the four dead getting prominent display: Sgt. Marc D. Leger, 29, Pvt. Richard Green, 22, Pvt. Nathan Smith, 27, and Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, 25.

Canadians questioned how a U.S. jet could bomb troops in what officials described as a recognized training zone.

A soldier interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in Edmonton, Alberta, said: "The whole point of training is to learn from your mistakes. The Americans don't seem to learn. They just keep killing people."

The Air National Guard pilot asked for permission to strike the site where he saw muzzles flaring below him in the dark but was given approval only to mark the target and give it a second look, defense officials said.

The pilot launched the 500-pound laser-guided bomb at 1:55 a.m. after deciding he was acting in self-defense, as pilots are sometimes permitted to do, the officials said. The reservist apparently had not been told that he was flying over Tarnak Farms, a desert landscape of sand and clay ringed by rocky cliffs three miles south of Kandahar air base.

The former al-Qaida training camp has long been sealed off from the public and designated as a coalition training area, used by U.S., Canadian and other forces.

About 100 coalition soldiers were conducting night training with live ammunition when the bomb struck, Gen. Raymond Henault, Canada's chief of defense staff, told reporters in Ottawa.

The four soldiers were killed instantly. Six others suffered serious wounds and were flown to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

As Canadian officials and their U.S. counterparts launched investigations into the bombing, Canadian leaders expressed concern over the attack and said they hoped to make any changes suggested by the investigations to make a recurrence less likely.

Chretien expressed his concern before the Canadian House of Commons.

"There are so many questions," the prime minister said. "How has this happened? I want to assure the families and the people of Canada that these questions will be answered."

The dead and wounded were among 880 Canadians who make up the largest contingent stationed at the Kandahar base except for the Americans, with whom they share duties guarding the gates, deactivating land mines and patrolling the region.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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