Canadian killed by fellow soldier in Afghanistan shooting accident

A Canadian was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow soldier in Afghanistan, military officials said Wednesday.

Master Cpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh, who was with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry from CFB Shilo in Manitoba, was shot and killed in what appears to have been an accidental discharge of a rifle.

Military sources confirm the gunshot that killed Walsh came from a fellow Canadian soldier.

Walsh, who had arrived in Afghanistan six days earlier, had been involved in routine operations, just 20 kilometres west of Kandahar, when the accident occurred.

"Enemy action has been ruled out," according to a Defence Department news release.

Military officials would not say if Walsh was inside a vehicle at the time of the shooting.

Soldiers involved in the incident later came under Taliban mortar fire at a forward operating base in the area, although military officials say the two incidents are unrelated.

Death toll reaches 25 soldiers

Walsh is the sixth Canadian soldier to die in the past week and the 25th soldier killed in the mission in Afghanistan. His death is under investigation by the military's National Investigation Service.

In another incident, six Canadian soldiers were injured when their armoured vehicle slammed into a truck.

Two of the soldiers suffered more serious non-life-threatening injuries, while four others were treated and released from hospital.

On Saturday, a Canadian soldier was killed and three others injured in a traffic accident in southern Afghanistan.

Last Thursday, four Canadian soldiers were killed and 10 injured in attacks near Kandahar in one of the deadliest days for Canada so far in the military campaign in Afghanistan.