The American fighter pilot who mistakenly bombed and killed Canadian troops in Afghanistan released the bomb after being told to hold his fire, a senior US officer has said.
Inquiries into the deadly April 18 incident blamed the US pilot and a fellow American F-16 pilot for not following proper procedures.
Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight injured when the American pilot, identified as Maj. Harry Schmidt of the Illinois Air National Guard, dropped a 500-pound, laser-guided bomb on them.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong said a US military panel recommended "appropriate disciplinary action" against Mr Schmidt and the unidentified lead pilot of the pair of F-16s involved. The panel also recommended that some members of the pilots' chain of command be disciplined, Mr DeLong said.
Mr DeLong, second in command at the US Central Command, refused to say what disciplinary actions the panel recommended. The Air Force will decide what discipline will be given, he said.
US military officials have not said whether they plan to compensate Canada or the families of the soldiers killed.
A parallel Canadian inquiry found that neither pilot knew Canadian troops were holding a training exercise with live ammunition south of Kandahar that night. The US inquiry found the pilot believed he was under attack and was acting in self-defense by dropping the bomb, Mr DeLong said.
Mr DeLong refused to say whether US pilots had been told about the Canadian exercise.
The bombing caused the Canadian military's first deaths in a combat operation since the Korean War and outraged many Canadians. Both investigations concluded that the Canadian military had properly notified American forces about the training exercise.
AP