ERBIL, Iraq, March 7 (UPI) — A Canadian special forces soldier was killed and three others wounded in northern Iraq on Friday after Kurdish peshmerga fighters mistook them for Islamic State militants, according to the Canadian government.
Canada’s Defense Minister Jason Kenney said Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, based at Garrison Petawawa, Ontario, “was killed while conducting advise and assist operations in Iraq when he and other members of the Special Operations Forces were mistakenly engaged by Iraqi Kurdish forces following their return to an observation post behind the front lines.”
Kenney said the other soldiers were in stable condition and that “thoughts and prayers are with them for their recovery.”
About 600 Canadian troops — including 69 members of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command — are in Iraq as part of Operation Impact, the name given to Canada’s efforts to advise and train the Iraqi military as it faces IS forces.
“The Canadians have been the most aggressive around Erbil, regularly visiting the front lines and helping call in airstrikes,” a peshmerga official, requesting anonymity, told McClatchy DC. “Around Mosul Dam, it’s the British Special Forces but the Canadians have been strong in their commitment to the defense of Mosul.”
Doiron’s death comes the same week as news that Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, a former Royal Marine, was the first British citizen killed in combat against IS forces while fighting alongside Kurds in Syria.
US extends deepest condolences on loss of Canadian Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron tragically killed in Iraq during a friendly fire incident— WH National Security (@NSCPress) March 7, 2015