New ‘unidentified object’ shot down over Canada, says Trudeau

An unidentified object has been shot down over North American airspace, Canadian President Justin Trudeau has disclosed.

The incident comes a week after a balloon of Chinese origin which flew over US airspace was shot down.

Trudeau said the object “violated Canadian airspace” and was shot down over Yukon, north-west Canada.

Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled to track down the object which Trudeau says was shot at by a US F-22.

Trudeau added he gave the order and he spoke with the US president, Joe Biden.

“Canadian forces will now recover and analyse the wreckage of the object,” he wrote on Twitter.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) earlier said it had been monitoring “a high-altitude airborne object” over northern Canada.

Last Saturday, a Chinese balloon that flew over North America for more than a week was found to be carrying equipment capable of intercepting and geolocating communications, the US government claimed.

A senior state department official said that equipment was identified by a U-2 spy plane sent up to scrutinise the object.

China has used such balloons to collect intelligence over 40 countries on five continents, the US claims.