Americans Killed In Kuwait Accident

March 12 -- A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter mistakenly dropped a bomb on friendly forces today, killing six people during a military training exercise.

Five of the dead were Americans, and the sixth victim was a New Zealand military member, said U.S. Central Command, the area of the Pentagon responsible for Kuwait.

Sources told ABCNEWS that four of the dead were from the U.S. Army and one from the Air Force, but officials said names would not be released until next of kin have been notified.

Five U.S. military personnel were injured and taken to a military hospital. Two were treated and released while three remain hospitalized and are expected to survive, U.S. Central Command said.

Vehicles As Targets

As part of a routine training exercise, the Hornet, along with several other U.S. aircraft, was supposed to fly from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman to the al Udari bombing range, find its target, and drop at least one 500-pound bomb on it.

Sources say a group of Army, Air Force and other troops were in the area, just south of Kuwait's northern border with Iraq, as part of an air support training exercise.

Such exercises are held quarterly to practice air attacks against hostile ground targets in close proximity to friendly forces. The exercises involve friendly ground and airborne forces pointing out targets to friendly fighter aircraft orbiting overhead. The fighter aircraft then deliver weapons on the targets.

The group on the ground was in and around several vehicles, which officials say could have been mistaken for targets on the range. The military commonly uses burned-out vehicles for target practice.

The accident happened after dark, which means the pilot and the troops on the ground should all have been wearing night-vision goggles. The most common way to designate a target at night is to illuminate it from a safe distance with an infrared flashlight beam or low-powered laser that can been clearly seen with night-vision goggles.

The Pentagon has appointed an accident investigation board and is questioning the pilot and survivors.