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Two American fighter jets bombed the Great Barrier Reef when a training exercise went wrong.

Green campaigners are furious that four 500lb weapons were unloaded into the marine park.

The AV-8B Harrier jets were meant to drop the bombs on Townshend Island but the mission was aborted because of hazards in the area.

The cargo was jettisoned as the planes cannot land if they are loaded with weapons.

US military bosses said the pilots ensured minimum damage at the huge world heritage site off the coast of Australia, by dropping the bombs in deep water as far from the coral as possible.

None of the weapons exploded as two were inert and two were unarmed.

But angry Australian eco-campaigner Graeme Dunstan said: “How can they protect the environment and bomb the reef at the same time? Get real.”

The bombing, part of a three-week US and Australian exercise off Queensland’s coast, is being probed by the two countries.