HIGHLIGHTS: A Joint US-Canadian Investigation to Be Launched.
Four US Troops Were Killed on Monday.
Read photo caption within.

STORYA U.S. F-16 warplane dropped one or two 500-pound laser-guided bombs on Canadian soldiers involved in a live-fire exercise in a clearly defined training zone in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing four and wounding eight others, Canadian Gen. Ray Henault said.

The deaths early Thursday were the first Canadian casualties in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and the first casualties Canada has suffered in offensive combat operations since the 1950-53 Korean War. They came just three days after the most recent U.S. casualties in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien promised a thorough investigation to determine how the incident, which took place at 5:25 p.m. EDT Wednesday, could have happened.

"(U.S.) President (George W.) Bush called me tonight to offer the sincerest condolences of the American people to the Canadian families. He also pledged complete cooperation with Canadian authorities, who will carry out a thorough and complete investigation," Chretien said.

Because the exercise was in the middle of the night, he said there was no way for the fighter flying at high altitude to visually identify the nationality of the Canadian troops before unleashing the 500-pound bomb or bombs.

On Monday, four U.S. troops were killed and one was badly injured while blowing up unexploded ordnance near Kandahar.
More than 30 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan or in the region since the United States began a campaign on Oct. 7 that toppled the ruling Taliban and routed the al Qaeda network in retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Before Wednesday, non-U.S. military deaths among Western coalition forces had included an Australian, two Germans and three Danes.

                                                   SOURCE: OTTAWA (Reuters)
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PHOTO CAPTION

Canadian Gen. Ray Henault, speaking April 18, 2002, at a news conference in Ottawa, announces that four Canadian soldiers were killed in a training accident near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Eight Canadian soldiers also were wounded when a U.S. Air National Guard F-16 dropped one or two 500-pound bombs on the troops April 17. The incident marked the first Canadian casualties in an offensive combat operation since the 1950-53 Korean War. (Jim Young/Reuter