Bombing practice in a joint Australia-U.S. military exercise were suspended after an American fighter jet almost bombed a building on a weapons range in Australia's remote north, officials said on Friday, according to Reuters. Australia's Defence Minister Robert Hill said that a bomb from a U.S. Marine Corp F/A-18 Hornet missed its target and landed near a building at the Delamere weapons range, causing some damage but no injuries. "We certainly regard it as a serious incident. But these things do occur in military training with live ammunition," Hill told reporters in the northern city of Darwin. Australia's defence department said all bombing operations had been suspended for the 2005 exercise, but gave no details of the incident. Hill, however, said some people were inside the building on the weapons range. "I don't know the size of the bomb," he said. "What I do know is what occurred wasn't supposed to have occurred. The case is being treated very seriously by us and the Americans. It will be thoroughly investigated and we will ensure it doesn't occur again." About 500 military personnel, 15 F/A-18 Hornets and two KC-130 Hercules aircraft from Australia and U.S. Marine Corp aviation units based in Japan are holding their annual Southern Frontier exercise at the remote Delamere weapons range, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of Darwin.
