Six military personnel from the United States and New Zealand have been killed and ten others sustained injuries when a US navy jet accidentally dropped a bomb on observers of a military training exercise in Kuwait, according to official sources.
All the casualties were military personnel who were observing a combined US, British and Kuwaiti nightime exercise at a training range in the desert near the Kuwaiti Iraqi border.
The US naval jet dropped a 500 pound gravity bomb on an observation site when it was practicing a close air support mission. The jet was based on Carrier Harry Truman.
The US Defense Department did not comment about the mishap for several hours. President Bush broke the news when he called for a moment of silence during a speech in Florida for those killed in the accident.
He said that we had lost some servicemen today in Kuwait in a training accident and asked the audience to join him in a moment of silence for soldiers and their families.
Bureau Report
