KUWAIT CITY—Fatigue brought on by days of battle likely caused Kurdish fighters to mistake a group of Canadian soldiers for the enemy, causing them to open fire, killing Sgt. Andrew Doiron, investigations reveal.

Three separate reviews conclude that the actions of the Canadians were not to blame for the friendly fire incident that cost Doiron his life in northern Iraq and left three other soldiers wounded, Gen. Tom Lawson, chief of defence staff, says.

That clashes with the Kurdish version of events in the immediate aftermath of the March 6 incident that the Canadians had “surprised” Kurdish fighters manning a checkpoint, who thought they were Islamic State fighters and opened fire.

But Lawson said that reviews by Canadian special forces, the National Investigative Service, a branch of the military police that examines serious incidents, and research by U.S. special forces, all exonerate the actions of the Canadians that day.

Lawson, who said he’s about to brief the government on the findings of the reviews and their recommendations, gave reporters a hint of the findings.

“When you see the situation you will see there was very little done wrong at all. In fact, the steps taken by the Canadian troops were perfect,” Lawson told reporters Sunday.

Instead, the reports say fatigue on the part of Kurdish fighters, who were worn out after days of skirmishes with Islamic State militants, was to blame for the tragic mistake.

“That’s certainly where the fatigue would have come from, when you are up on the front line and you’re on cycles that are very difficult to deal with,” Lawson said.

“We’re talking about battle fatigue with the peshmerga on the front line,” he said.

He spoke to reporters during a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the Kuwait airbase, just outside Kuwait City, where Canadian CF-18s are staging their bombing operations on Iraq and Syria.

Reporters were not allowed to identify the specific location of the base.

Harper went to northern Iraq on Saturday, visiting close to the front lines west of Erbil where Kurdish militia and Islamic State fighters have clashed in recent months.

This is where a small group of soldiers from the Petawawa-based Canadian Special Operations Regiment arrived last fall to train Kurdish militia in their fight against Islamic State extremists.

It was near the site of Harper’s visit where Doiron, one of those trainers, was killed.

On the day of the incident, the Canadians had gone to a Kurdish observation post to discuss with peshmerga militia procedures for their return later that night.

When they returned, the Canadians successfully passed several checkpoints and were less than 100 metres from another one when a single Kurdish soldier opened fire, prompting others to open fire as well. Doiron was killed instantly. His death marked the first fatality in the Canadians’ Iraq operation.

Lawson said that includes “considering things like fatigue and battle conditions in recent days when we consider any operations up at the front.”

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“Our effects will be to alter our tactics as required to mitigate any chance of this every happening again,” he said.

Lawson said he expects the reviews to be released in the coming weeks, once sensitive information has been removed from the documents.

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