Deaths of Canadian officer, UN observers preventable: board

Last Updated: Friday, February 1, 2008 | 6:36 PM ET

CBC News

The deaths of a Canadian military officer and three other United Nations observers in southern Lebanon in 2006 were 'tragic and preventable,' a Canadian Forces board of inquiry has found.

In a censored report, the board said the deaths of Canadian Maj. Paeta Hess-Von Kruedener and observers from Austria, China and Finland on July 25, 2006, were the result of errors by the Israeli Defence Force.

Major Paeta Hess-von Kruedener was killed with three other UN observers in southern Lebanon on July 25, 2006.
(Canadian Armed Forces/Canadian Press)

The UN military observers, who were working with Operation JADE, the Canadian contribution to the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, died when the UN Patrol Base Khiam compound was hit by a 500-kilogram bomb dropped by an Israeli aircraft.

The compound was also hit by four 155-mm artillery shells fired by the Israelis during clashes with Hezbollah following the capture of two Israeli soldiers, the report said, which nearly destroyed Patrol Base Khiam's main building.

A decision to evacuate the four had been made shortly before the strike, the report says.

"As the shelling and bombing in the vicinity of Patrol Base Khiam increased in frequency and accuracy, the decision was made to evacuate," the report said. "But the fatal bomb was dropped before the four observers could be withdrawn."

The board said it could not assign blame for the deaths beyond the Israeli military "as an institution" because neither the UN nor the Israeli Defence Force fully co-operated with the investigation.

"Taking into consideration all factors present at the time of the incident and the actions of all individuals, I fully support the Board's conclusion that no blame can be assigned to any one individual," said Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which oversees Canada's international military operations, in a release.

"The Israeli Defence Force has taken full responsibility for the operational and tactical errors which led to the bombing of PB Khiam, although without naming any individual as being personally culpable."

The Canadian Forces board of inquiry is an investigative panel that examines and reports on complex or significant military events. It is responsible for determining what happened and how and why it happened, and proposing measures that might prevent recurrences.

The report on the bombing that killed Hess-Von Kruedener makes 13 recommendations to the Canadian Expeditionary Force for future UN missions, including calls for better communication and situation analysis.

It did not find fault with operations of the UN command, to which the Canadians deferred.

"The board's findings and recommendations will improve the safety of the young men and women who proudly wear our uniform. Maj. Hess-Von Kruedener did not die in vain and we shall never forget his ultimate contribution in the pursuit of peace," said Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, in a prepared statement.

Gauthier said implementation of the board's recommendations will reduce the likelihood of a future occurence of such an incident, but due to the nature of UN missions, the risk cannot be reduced to zero.