Aides to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien have indicated that they hope to get to the bottom of the incident, to avert any possible backlash here against the presence of more than 900 Canadian troops under American operational command in Afghanistan.
The Serbian-Montenegrin force, which will have to be trained to function under American operational command, will be based in the Kandahar region near the Pakistani border, the officials said.
An MOD spokesperson, in response to questions from the Guardian, said: "UK forces are regularly embedded in the forces of other nations under longstanding exchange programmes with allies, where small numbers of UK personnel act under the operational command of host nations.
The corps presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces, and 21 (Artists Special Air Service Regimentt and 23 Special Air Service Regiment, which are reserve units under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.
22 Special Air Service is under the operational command of the Director Special Forces (DSF), a major-general grade post.
In 2014 the SAS Reserve units came under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.
Both units come under the operational command of HQ Directorate of Special Forces (DSF) and undergo an identical selection process, enjoy significant interoperability in training and on operations.
On 13 May the Dutch troops were placed under French operational command and 68e Division d'Infanterie was transferred to the 7th Army.
If mobilised, the NGVR would come under the operational command of the 8th Military District which was in the process of being raised under the command of Major General Basil Morris.
Although the group of five merchant ships were highly vulnerable to attack and a worthwhile target, Coastal Command came under the operational command of the Admiralty and was bound by its decision to give higher priority to attacking warships than merchant vessels.
