Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that on his order a US warplane shot down an unidentified object that was flying high over northern Canada, acting a day after US planes took similar action over Alaska.
Key points:
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The object is the third known to have violated North American airspace in the past two weeks
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The announcement came just minutes after an update on recovery efforts for an object shot down over Alaska
- Authorities have not provided details on what either object may be
Shortly before Mr Trudeau’s tweet, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said it had detected an object flying at high altitude over Canada.
NORAD gave no further information, including when the object was first spotted or what it was.
On Twitter, Mr Trudeau said: “I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. @NORADCommand shot down the object over the Yukon.
“Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object.”
The object was the third known to have violated North American airspace in the past two weeks.
A suspected Chinese spy balloon spent nearly a week flying through Canadian and US airspace before it was shot down by US warplanes earlier this week.
The US military shot down a second object in Alaskan airspace on Friday local time, though authorities have not provided details on what it was.
An update on the recovery of the craft came just minutes before the announcement by NORAD of the object over Canada.
“While we cannot discuss specifics related to these activities at this time, please note that NORAD conducts sustained, dispersed operations in the defence of North America through one or all three NORAD regions,” NORAD said in a statement.
NORAD oversees aerospace warning, aerospace control and maritime warning for North America.
AP/Reuters