Canada, Kurds disagree over soldier’s death in Iraq

The Canadian government and Kurdish officials are publicly disagreeing over the circumstances of a Canadian soldier’s death in a friendly fire incident in Iraq.

The death of Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron on Friday marked Canada’s first casualty as part of the US-led coalition’s war on the extremist Islamic State group.

Kurdish officials say that Doiron was killed after he and other Canadian soldiers showed up to the front line unannounced to call in airstrikes.

“They went to the front line to direct airstrikes because the area was attacked by ISIS the day before,” Hezhar Ismail, director of coordination and relations for the peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters, tells The Associated Press, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney responds to allegations that Canadian soldiers were on the front line in an interview with CTV, saying that Canadian soldiers were well behind the lines when the soldier was killed. Kenney said the soldiers had just returned to an observation post behind the front line when they were mistakenly fired upon by Kurdish fighters.

“They weren’t on the front line,” Kenney says. “It was 200 meters from the front.”

The Canadian military also denies that the group was in the area to direct airstrikes.

“I can confirm it’s a big no. They were not there to conduct airstrikes,” says Daniel Lebouthillier, a spokesman for the Canadian military.

Kenney says he looks forward to hearing more after an investigation is completed.

“It’s a regrettable case of mistaken identity. Obviously we want to know what happened,” he says.

— AP