AFGHANISTAN: A US F-16 fighter pilot dropped a 500 lb bomb on Canadian troops engaged in a live-fire exercise in southern Afghanistan because he thought he was under hostile fire, a US defence official said yesterday.
Four Canadians were killed and eight wounded in the bombing, the latest and one of the worst in a string of "friendly fire" incidents that have marred the six-month old US-led campaign in Afghanistan, officials said.
The Canadians were conducting the exercise in a known training area 14 km south of Kandahar when they came under attack late on Wednesday, but it was not known whether the F-16 or his air controller were aware of it, the official said.
"It was a known exercise area so we will have to look at it very closely," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The trouble began when a flight of two F-16 fighters reported taking fire from the ground, the official said. They were given permission by their air controller to mark the target, he said.
"When they went back to mark the target, they reported taking fire again and the wingman of the two fighters decided that in self-defence he should drop, and he dropped one 500 lb bomb," the official said.
Wednesday's incident marked the first Canadian combat casualties since the Korean War, Canadian defence ministry officials said. Meanwhile, former king Mohammed Zahir Shah (87) set foot on Afghan soil for the first time in 29 years yesterday to assume a new role as the father figure of his traumatised nation.
The former king stepped off an Italian military plane followed by the interim leader, Mr Hamid Karzai. A military honour guard stood to attention as the former king walked across the tarmac, flanked by Mr Karzai and the Deputy Defence Minister, Mr Abdul Rashid Dostam. His return from Italy for the first time since he was ousted in a coup in 1973 is seen as highly symbolic of Afghanistan's return to stability after more than two decades of war.
But a bomb blast in the eastern city of Khost yesterday, in which at least three people were reported to have been killed, served as a reminder that peace remains elusive in Afghanistan.