US Jets Fire on Canadian Troops
By Kim Barker
The Chicago Tribune
U.S. warplanes accidentally strafed Canadian troops fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan early Monday, killing one soldier and wounding several, NATO officials said.
The “friendly-fire” incident happened near Panjwayi, where NATO troops have been fighting a pitched battle with the Taliban for three days, part of Operation Medusa. On Monday morning, NATO troops called for close air support. Two U.S. A-10 aircraft responded but hit the Canadian forces with cannons by mistake, NATO officials said.
“It is particularly distressing to us all when, despite the care and precautions that are always applied, a tragedy like this happens,” said Lt. Gen. David Richards, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, the NATO-led forces that assumed security control of most of Afghanistan in August.
The accident is reminiscent of one in 2002, when an Illinois National Guard fighter pilot mistook a Canadian live-ammunition exercise in Afghanistan as an attack, dropped a bomb and killed four Canadian soldiers. The accident outraged many Canadians.
Richards said the Monday’s accident did not soften NATO’s resolve. It followed a weekend of fighting in which NATO forces claimed to have killed more than 200 Taliban fighters in the Panjwayi area, a hotbed for Taliban resistance. Four Canadian soldiers died in the fighting.
“We are fighting through a difficult position, which needs clearing,” said Richards, adding that the Taliban must be moved out of the region before reconstruction can begin.
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