Four die as US jet bombs Canadians
Rory McCarthy in Islamabad and Julian Borger in
Washington
Friday April 19, 2002
The Guardian
Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight wounded yesterday
when they were mistakenly bombed by a patrolling US F-16 jet
during night training near Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.
The soldiers were on a live-firing exercise in the desert nine
miles south of Kandahar at a former al-Qaida camp routinely
used by western forces for training.
At 1.55am the F-16 swept overhead and dropped a 500lb
(227kg) laser-guided bomb. The four died instantly. One of eight
had life-threatening injuries, the Canadian defence minister, Art
Eggleton, said.
Canadian politicians were shocked by the first Canadian deaths
in combat operations since its army served with US troops in
the Vietnam .
The prime minister, Jean Chrétien, told MPs: "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."
He said President Bush had offered his condolences and
promised full cooperation in the joint investigation which had
already begun.
American and Canadian officers gave few details of the incident,
the latest in a string of "friendly fire" incidents in Afghanistan.
The F-16 pilot was from the US air national guard, which
frequently uses reservists who normally fly civilian aircraft.
Officers in Washington said the two pilots were unaware that
they were flying over an area set aside for allied exercises.
Believing they were under fire from hostile forces on the ground,
one asked permission to bomb, and was told only to mark the
target.
But on a second pass over the area one of the F-16s released a
bomb, apparently without permission.
Lieutenant-General Ray Henault, Canada's chief of defence staff,
said: "How this can happen is a mystery to us. Without a doubt,
there was a misidentification..
"My understanding is that there was no hostile activity in the
area that would have created this incident."
The incident would not affect the Canadian deployment, he said.
"We remain committed in our duty to this campaign and will
certainly continue."
About 800 Canadians are in Kandahar, patrolling the city and
surrounding areas.
The injured are expected to be flown to US medical bases in
Uzbekistan or at Ramstein in Germany.
American investigators are still examining the list of "friendly
fire" incidents and fatal accidents involving US forces since
operations began in and around Afghanistan last year. At least
40 western soldiers, mostly American, have died since the
campaign began.
As the injured Canadians received emergency treatment in field
hospitals in Kandahar yesterday, a service was held at the city's
US base for four of its soldiers, killed on Monday while trying to
dispose of several captured rockets.
Meanwhile the Royal Marines ended their first main combat
mission in Afghanistan yesterday, the five-day Operation
Ptarmigan in south-eastern Afghanistan, in which the 43
Commando unit found new cave complexes, including one
containing 20,000 rounds of large-calibre ammunition usually
associated with anti-aircraft artillery.
After dumping the ammunition and documents, they destroyed
the caves, Brigadier Roger Lane said at a news conference
announcing the completion of the mission.
The toll of fatal errors
· Afghanistan US aircraft strike convoy near Khost on
December 22, killing dozens of Afghans. Earlier that month B-52
bombs US and Afghan forces near Kandahar, killing three
Americans and seven Afghans, and slightly wounding Hamid
Karzai, Afghanistan's interim leader.
· Kuwait Five Americans and New Zealander killed by US bomb
during military exercise in March 2001.
· Kosovo In 1999 war Nato aircraft attack Kosovo Liberation
Army base at Kosare, killing seven guerrillas.
· Gulf In 1991, nine soldiers of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
killed by US A-10 Thunderbolt plane when wrongly identified as
enemy. Almost a quarter of the 146 Americans killed in action
during the Gulf war were hit by "friendly fire".
· Falklands In 1982, a patrol of Royal Marines from 45
Commando unit engaged one of its mortar sections, wrongly
identified as an enemy unit, killing five.
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