WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is expected to announce criminal charges as early as Friday against two American F-16 fighter pilots who mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan ( news - web sites) in April, killing four and injuring eight, U.S. defense officials said on Thursday.
A joint U.S.-Canadian investigation was completed during the summer and officials said then that the two men were responsible for the "friendly fire" deaths because they had not exercised proper procedures and due caution.
"I expect that there will be a joint announcement on Friday and that the Air Force will say that it is bringing charges on the recommendation of investigators," one of the defense officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.
The officials declined to be specific about the action, but NBC reported earlier on Thursday that the board had recommended criminal charges.
A 1,500-page report on the investigation of one of the worst such incidents of the Afghan war determined that Maj. Harry Schmidt of the Illinois Air National Guard did not take time to assess properly the threat on the ground before dropping a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on Canadian troops conducting a night military exercise near Kandahar.
It also accused fellow F-16 pilot and flight leader Maj. William Umbach of failure to exercise due leadership as the head of the two-aircraft flight.
FIRST BATTLE DEATHS SINCE KOREAN WAR
The bombing of the Canadian troops in April marked the first time that the country's soldiers had died in a combat zone since the Korean War.
The pilots said they were not aware of the exercise and thought they were being fired at. But investigators said a U.S. AWACS (airborne warning and control system) radar aircraft directing the flight had told the two men to delay any attack while checks were being made.
Both President Bush ( news - web sites) and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien expressed deep regret about the incident, but the Canadian public clamored for answers.
Investigators determined that the members of Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were in no way responsible for the incident when they were bombed while conducting a night live-fire training exercise on the ground near Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan.
Umbach got permission from the AWACS to determine the precise location of what the flight thought was surface-to-air fire. While the lead pilot was trying to get those coordinates, the pilot of the second F-16 requested permission to fire on the location.
The AWACS told the pilots to stand by, but Schmidt provided the coordinates and then radioed that he was "rolling in, in self-defense," according to investigators.