Tragic accident : Sgt Andrew Joseph Doiron of the Canadian special forces was killed Friday in Iraq . Kurdish peshmerga forces claim to have accidentally killed Doiron in a friendly fires incident , after mistaking him for an Islamic militant . A Canadian special forces soldier was killed in a friendly fire incident after he and others ignored an order to stay in their car and showed up to the front line unannounced , a spokesman for Iraq 's Kurdish forces said Sunday . The death Friday of Sgt . Andrew Joseph Doiron marked Canada 's first casualty as part of the U.S.-led coalition 's war on the extremist Islamic State group . Canadian officials could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday on the peshmerga claim , though Canada 's defense minister previously acknowledged Doiron 's death came as a result of ' a case of mistaken identity . ' Peshmerga spokesman Halgurd Hekmat said a group of Canadian soldiers showed up unannounced Friday to the village of Bashiq , in Iraq 's Nineveh province near the militant-held city of Mosul . The area had seen heavy fighting against Islamic State militants the previous day . 'When they returned , the peshmerga asked them to identify themselves , ' Hekmat told The Associated Press . 'They answered in Arabic , that 's when peshmerga started shooting . It was their fault . ' Hekmat added that he does n't know why the Canadians were there . ' I consider it an improper action by the Canadians and illogical , ' he said . Two Kurdish officials later told the AP that Doiron 's body was flown to Canada early Sunday following a military ceremony at Irbil International Airport . They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief journalists . Canada 's defense department on Saturday announced the death of Doiron , a soldier in the Canadian Special Operations Regiment based at Garrison Petawawa , Ontario . Three other Canadian soldiers were wounded in the incident and are in stable condition , Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney said . Sgt Doiron and other soldiers were shot when they unexpectedly showed up at the front line in Bashiq , Iraq on Friday . Bashiq is located not far from the ISIS stronghold city of Mosul . Canada has 69 special forces soldiers with Kurdish peshmerga fighters in what the government calls an advising and assisting role . They were sent to help train Kurdish fighters last September in a mission that was billed as noncombat with the elite troops working far behind the front lines . The fact that Canadian special forces have been training and assisting on the front lines and directing airstrikes has stirred controversy in the country , but Kenney said the rules of engagement will remain the same . Kenney said Doiron 's death had 'nothing to do with combat , ' saying it was a case of mistaken identity on the part of Kurdish fighters at night . 'It was caused by a failure of identification . There will be an inquiry , ' Kenney said . The Islamic State group currently holds a third of Iraq and Syria . The U.S.-led coalition began airstrikes targeting the extremists in August . So far , four other troops have been killed as part of the coalition , not counting Iraqi forces . They include a U.S. Marine presumed lost at sea in October , a Marine killed in a noncombat incident in Baghdad in October , a U.S. Air Force pilot killed in December when his jet crashed in Jordan and a captive Jordanian pilot burned to death in a cage by the Islamic State group .
Sgt colonel Joseph ##hes of the Canadian special forces brigade Friday . Kurdish rebel forces mistakenly claimed Sgt Doiron and comrades were Islamic militants . clashes happened in the Iraqi town of Bashiq , not far from the ISIS stronghold of Mosul .