Canadian Pilot Conducted Airstrike That Killed 9 Iraqi Soldiers

A Canadian pilot has been named responsible for the accidental deaths of nine Iraqi soldiers near the city of Fallujah, a military source told Iraqi television channel Al-Sumar.

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi on Friday confirmed the death of nine Iraqi soldiers after an unintentional air strike during an offensive on rebel positions near the city of Fallujah in Anbar province.

“The plane of the international coalition forces that fired at the Iraqi army near Fallujah three days ago, was Canadian, the pilot was Canadian,” the source said.

According to him, the pilot initially fired two missiles at militants of Daesh (Islamic State), which led to the deaths of 40 of 40 people, but the third missile hit Iraqi army soldiers during their offensive on the Daesh positions.

On Monday, head of the coalition Stephen Warren said that an investigation was being carried out regarding the incident which was the first of this kind since the beginning of military operations in Iraq against Daesh militants.

Earlier, the Canadian government announced its intention to withdraw CF-18 fighter jets from Iraq by next year. Canada is also planning to increase the number of military instructors based in northern Iraq. Last year, as part of the operation led by the US coalition, Canada sent CF-18 fighter jets to Iraq untill March 2016.