Four Canadians killed by 'friendly fire'

Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight wounded when an American fighter jet mistakenly bombed them during a training exercise in Afghanistan, officials said.

US Navy Commander Frank Merriman, spokesman for Central Command in Tampa, Florida, said an Air National Guard F-16 dropped one or two 500lb bombs near Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold.

Neither US 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 defence chief, Lieutenant General Ray Henault told reporters in Ottawa.

Canadian defence officials said their soldiers were on a night-time training exercise about 10 miles south of their Kandahar base when the bombing occurred.

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

Asked whether the US plane was involved in the exercise, Lt Gen Henault said: ‘‘My understanding is that this aircraft was in no way supporting or involved in that particular exercise.’’

He said some of the injured soldiers will be moved to a medical facility in Uzbekistan and others to Ramstein, Germany, depending on their condition. Two who were slightly injured will remain in Kandahar for treatment.

Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chretien said US President George W Bush had called to offer his condolences and pledged 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,’’ Mr Chretien said in a statement.

There was no immediate word from the White House on the accident.

Canadian forces are fighting alongside US, British and European troops seeking to hunt down remnants of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organization and Afghanistan’s former ruling Taliban militia.

The bombing is among the worst friendly fire accidents since the US-led campaign began in October.

On December 5, a B-52A dropped a bomb on US 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 is not complete, but officials have said there were errors in transmitting target coordinates to the B-52.

On December 22, US aircraft struck a convoy near Khost, killing dozens of Afghans. Some Afghans say the convoy was carrying tribal leaders to Karzai’s inauguration, but US military commanders insist it was a legitimate target.