The death of Sgt. Andrew Doiron, who was shot by Kurdish forces in Iraq in March, was a “tragic case of mistaken identity,” a military investigation has concluded.
The results of two separate investigations released by the Department of National Defence on Tuesday also found that the Canadian soldiers who found themselves under Kurdish fire on March 6 did nothing wrong.
“The actions taken by the CANSOF operators, including by Sergeant Doiron, were correct and justified,” according to a summary of the investigations.
The military said a “confluence of several unrelated events” led to the friendly fire incident.
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Canadian Special Operations Forces commander Brig.-Gen. Michael Rouleau said the Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State militants had asked for Canadians’ advice on defensive positions.
The plan was for Doiron’s detachment to visit several of those Kurdish positions near the frontline during the day and at nighttime on March 6. Doiron had communicated his plan to the Kurdish commanders and everything went well during the daytime visits.
But when Doiron and his team returned to the seventh – and last – Kurdish position that night, a Kurdish soldier opened fire.
Unbeknownst to Doiron and his team, the crew at position seven had changed shifts without informing the replacement soldiers that the Canadians would be returning around 11 p.m. that night, Rouleau said.
‘It was an accident’
Other factors contributed to the deadly accident, Rouleau said, including fatigue, confusion and the fact that the Kurdish soldiers at that defensive position had been attacked by ISIS the night before.
That night, ISIS killed and wounded several Peshmerga troops.
As Doiron’s crew approached the Kurds, a pack of wild dogs started making a lot of noise, which is believed to have heightened the Kurdish fighters’ anxiety, Rouleau said.
He said Doiron instructed his crew to “speak loudly and in English” and he used the appropriate identification codes as the team approached.
Nevertheless, a Kurdish soldier fired on the Canadians, wounding Doiron immediately. That prompted more gunfire from the Kurdish side, Rouleau said.
The heavily redacted report doesn’t say what happened, other than Doiron “got shot.”
The Canadian Forces are also not revealing whether or not they spoke with the shooter.
Asked whether the Kurdish soldier who began firing on the Canadians will face any repercussions, Rouleau said that soldier “did not wake up that morning hoping to kill a Canadian.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Rouleau said. “It is an accident, an error.”
Three other Canadian soldiers were injured that night. One of them remains in Iraq, while two were flown back to Canada for further treatment, Rouleau said.
Doiron is the first Canadian soldier killed in the military operation against Islamic State militants in Iraq.
The military said Tuesday it has implemented “additional protocols when conducting similar activities at night” in response to Doiron’s death.
The Canadians have been pulled back from the front lines, and if they do travel at night, they must be accompanied by a Kurdish soldier.
No Arabic spoken
Contrary to conflicting reports in the days following Doiron’s death, Rouleau said that the Canadian soldiers did not speak Arabic as they approached the Kurdish position that night.
Shortly after the shooting, a spokesperson for the Kurdish forces in Iraq told The Associated Press that the Canadians showed up unannounced and ignored an order to stay in their vehicle.
The spokesperson also said that when asked to identify themselves, the Canadians answered in Arabic, prompting confusion and gunfire.
That version of events was denied by the Canadian Forces.
Rouleau said Tuesday that Doiron was a “leader among leaders” who did everything right to ensure the safety of his team in Iraq. He and others used codes and communication techniques with the Kurds that had worked well for months.
Before arriving at the last Kurdish position on the night of March 6, Doiron even asked a Kurdish commander at a previous stop to call ahead and let his counterpart know that the Canadians would be arriving, Rouleau said.
However, Rouleau said the Canadian military doesn’t know if that call was “put through definitively and if the commander on position seven received it.
“We just don’t know.”
