US Jet kills six in bombing error in Kuwait

US Jet kills six in bombing error in Kuwait
Reuters

MAR 13: A US warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb, killing five US soldiers and a New Zealander during an exercise in the Kuwaiti desert near Iraq's border, officials said.

It was the latest accident to embarrass the US military, coming just a month after a US Navy submarine sank a Japanese trawler, killing nine civilians aboard the fishing boat.

Defence sources in Kuwait said the accident occurred during a night-time live fire exercise on Monday at 7:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) which involved mainly Kuwaiti and US troops.

Earlier in the day, British troops were involved in the exercise at the desert training range but they did not take part in live firing, Western defence sources said.

"They were out of the immediate area by the time the accident had happened," one source told Reuters.

A US investigation board is due in Kuwait later this week to discover the cause of the accident in which the bomb fell on a group of military observers.

It was not immediately clear if the US Navy F/A-18 aircraft had missed its target or a ground team fed incorrect target coordinates.

Two Kuwaitis and five Americans were wounded but none were in critical condition, Kuwaiti and US officials said. Others were treated at the scene of the accident and later released.

Some of the wounded were flown to a Kuwaiti military hospital in the capital Kuwait City by helicopter. The hospital, like the accident site, has been sealed off to the media.

The United States Embassy in Kuwait said in a statement early on Tuesday that the warplane "dropped an explosive ordnance on or near an observation post at the Udairi Range" just South of the border with Kuwait's former occupier Iraq.

It confirmed that five US Military personnel and a New Zealander were killed in the accident.

The New Zealand government said it wanted an urgent explanation on how the accident happened, which also damaged some military equipment, defence sources said.

The range is a regular training site for Gulf War coalition forces based in Kuwait since driving Iraqi forces out of the oil-rich state in February 1991 after a seven-month occupation.

"Six coalition military personnel are confirmed dead -- five US military personnel and one New Zealand military member," the embassy statement said without releasing names.

The embassy statement sent to Reuters said: "The F/A-18 aircraft was participating in a routine close air support training exercise involving joint Coalition forces. This exercise involved both day and night training."

It added: "The exercises involve friendly ground and airborne forces pointing out targets to friendly fighter aircraft orbiting overhead. The fighter aircraft then deliver weapons on the targets."

The exercise is designed for "air operations against hostile ground targets in close proximity to friendly forces," it added.

In Wellington, the New Zealand Defence Force said in a statement that Acting Major John McNutt, 27, was killed by the bomb. New Zealand officers serve for about four months in Kuwait as liaison officers attached to a US Task force based at Camp Doha, which also serves as a store for heavy arms.

McNutt had been a member of the elite First NZ Special Air Services Group for around 18 months.

"It is very sad, he was about a month from ending his tour here," said a friend of McNutt's in Kuwait.

Those killed and wounded were on the ground observing training when they were hit by the blast in the dark, US Defence officials said.

The US military along with Kuwaiti and foreign forces based in the Gulf Arab state have set up a permanent training range at Udairi, where almost year-round exercises code-named "Intrinsic Action" are held.

Former US President George Bush and some of his Gulf War commanders had visited the range in February to attend a live fire exercise there. He praised the level of professionalism.

The jet is based aboard the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman which is in the Gulf as part of Washington's large military presence in the oil-rich region to deter Iraq.

"We lost some servicemen today in a training accident in Kuwait," President George W Bush said in a speech during an appearance in Panama City, Florida. He asked the crowd for a moment of silence for the casualties.

Around 5,000 Americans are based in Kuwait.