Lisa
September 4th, 2006, 01:01 PM
Canadian killed by 'friendly fire' in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Monday, September 4, 2006 | 12:34 PM MT
CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html)
Two U.S. fighter jets mistakenly fired on a Canadian platoon taking part in a massive anti-Taliban operation west of Kandahar on Monday, killing one soldier and injuring dozens of others.
The incident occurred at about 5:30 a.m. local time when two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts, operating under NATO command, responded to a call for support from soldiers trying to take a Taliban stronghold along the Arghandab River.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2006/09/04/afghanop_cp_10667688.jpg
Canadian soldiers wait for orders in the Panjwaii district in southern Afghanistan on Monday after hearing that U.S. troops had killed one of their comrades a few kilometres away.
(Les Perreaux/Canadian Press)
NATO said the aircraft engaged friendly forces during a strafing run using cannons. The Americans were taking part in Operation Medusa, a NATO air-land offensive aimed at purging Taliban militants from the dangerous Panjwaii area west of the city of Kandahar.
The military has not yet publicly identified the dead Canadian, who was one of about 2,200 Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Thirty-three Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since the mission started in 2002.
Five of the 30 soldiers wounded in the attack will be airlifted to hospitals outside of Afghanistan. Their conditions were not immediately made public.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2006/09/04/stachnik-mellish-nolan-dnd.jpg
Sgt. Shane Stachnik, left, was identified Monday as one of four Canadians who were killed a day earlier while battling the Taliban. Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, centre, and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan also died in the fighting.
(DND)
Officials predicted the rest of the wounded soldiers would be back on duty within days.
Canadian general promises thorough probe
Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, the Canadian Armed Forces general who is in charge of the NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, promised the incident would be thoroughly investigated.
"We've got to find out what were the details there," Fraser said.
"We do have procedures, we do have communications, we do have training and tactics and techniques and procedures to mitigate the risk, but we can't reduce those risks to zero," he said.
Friendly fire rare, NATO says
More than 18,500 troops from 37 nations make up NATO's deployment in Afghanistan, the International Assistance Security Force (ISAF), which took over control of the coalition forces in the summer from the United States.
A NATO spokesman, Mark Laity, said the force's soldiers flew roughly 800 missions in the country during the past month and used their weapons in about 450 of them — all without killing any allies until now.
"It shows you how rare [friendly fire] is," Laity said.
Laity, who spoke from Kabul, said NATO's soldiers in the country are "grimly determined" to defeat an enemy that is offering strong resistance.
"The scale and ferocity has been at the upper end of our expectations," said Laity. "I don't think we've underestimated them but we do have a very tough fight going on."
Canadians hit before by friendly fire
It isn't the first time that Canadian troops have died in so-called friendly-fire incidents in Afghanistan.
Earlier in August, Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh died after apparently being shot accidentally by a comrade.
However, the friendly-fire case that created the greatest controversy and outrage in Canada came in 2002, when a U.S. fighter jet mistakenly dropped a bomb on Canadian forces as they conducted a training exercise.
The bomb killed four Canadians from the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and wounded eight others.
3rd Canadian killed by Taliban identified
The incident on Monday came less than 24 hours after four Canadian soldiers were killed in the same district while battling Taliban as part of Operation Medusa.
Two of the four Canadians were identified on Sunday: Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, who grew up in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan, from Newfoundland and Labrador.
On Monday, Department of National Defence officials identified a third soldier, Sgt. Shane Stachnik, who served with the 2 Combat Engineer Regiment based out of CFB Petawawa in Ontario.
The military said nine other Canadians were injured in the fighting, one seriously, while NATO troops killed about 200 militants.
With files from the Canadian Press
Last Updated: Monday, September 4, 2006 | 12:34 PM MT
CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html)
Two U.S. fighter jets mistakenly fired on a Canadian platoon taking part in a massive anti-Taliban operation west of Kandahar on Monday, killing one soldier and injuring dozens of others.
The incident occurred at about 5:30 a.m. local time when two U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts, operating under NATO command, responded to a call for support from soldiers trying to take a Taliban stronghold along the Arghandab River.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2006/09/04/afghanop_cp_10667688.jpg
Canadian soldiers wait for orders in the Panjwaii district in southern Afghanistan on Monday after hearing that U.S. troops had killed one of their comrades a few kilometres away.
(Les Perreaux/Canadian Press)
NATO said the aircraft engaged friendly forces during a strafing run using cannons. The Americans were taking part in Operation Medusa, a NATO air-land offensive aimed at purging Taliban militants from the dangerous Panjwaii area west of the city of Kandahar.
The military has not yet publicly identified the dead Canadian, who was one of about 2,200 Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Thirty-three Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since the mission started in 2002.
Five of the 30 soldiers wounded in the attack will be airlifted to hospitals outside of Afghanistan. Their conditions were not immediately made public.
http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2006/09/04/stachnik-mellish-nolan-dnd.jpg
Sgt. Shane Stachnik, left, was identified Monday as one of four Canadians who were killed a day earlier while battling the Taliban. Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, centre, and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan also died in the fighting.
(DND)
Officials predicted the rest of the wounded soldiers would be back on duty within days.
Canadian general promises thorough probe
Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, the Canadian Armed Forces general who is in charge of the NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, promised the incident would be thoroughly investigated.
"We've got to find out what were the details there," Fraser said.
"We do have procedures, we do have communications, we do have training and tactics and techniques and procedures to mitigate the risk, but we can't reduce those risks to zero," he said.
Friendly fire rare, NATO says
More than 18,500 troops from 37 nations make up NATO's deployment in Afghanistan, the International Assistance Security Force (ISAF), which took over control of the coalition forces in the summer from the United States.
A NATO spokesman, Mark Laity, said the force's soldiers flew roughly 800 missions in the country during the past month and used their weapons in about 450 of them — all without killing any allies until now.
"It shows you how rare [friendly fire] is," Laity said.
Laity, who spoke from Kabul, said NATO's soldiers in the country are "grimly determined" to defeat an enemy that is offering strong resistance.
"The scale and ferocity has been at the upper end of our expectations," said Laity. "I don't think we've underestimated them but we do have a very tough fight going on."
Canadians hit before by friendly fire
It isn't the first time that Canadian troops have died in so-called friendly-fire incidents in Afghanistan.
Earlier in August, Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh died after apparently being shot accidentally by a comrade.
However, the friendly-fire case that created the greatest controversy and outrage in Canada came in 2002, when a U.S. fighter jet mistakenly dropped a bomb on Canadian forces as they conducted a training exercise.
The bomb killed four Canadians from the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and wounded eight others.
3rd Canadian killed by Taliban identified
The incident on Monday came less than 24 hours after four Canadian soldiers were killed in the same district while battling Taliban as part of Operation Medusa.
Two of the four Canadians were identified on Sunday: Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, who grew up in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan, from Newfoundland and Labrador.
On Monday, Department of National Defence officials identified a third soldier, Sgt. Shane Stachnik, who served with the 2 Combat Engineer Regiment based out of CFB Petawawa in Ontario.
The military said nine other Canadians were injured in the fighting, one seriously, while NATO troops killed about 200 militants.
With files from the Canadian Press