Joint probe into downed plane

Pilot Kevin Donaldson is taken to hospital in Iquitos

The US State Department says it is launching a joint investigation with the authorities in Peru after a civilian aircraft was mistaken for a drugs-running plane and shot down by the Peruvian Air Force.

Officials from both countries have been disputing the circumstances in which an American missionary and her young daughter were killed when their plane was shot at.

Washington has stopped short of assigning blame, but has questioned the actions of the Peruvian Air Force.

Americans say the Peruvians failed to check the aircraft's identity before giving the order to shoot it down.

The Peruvian Air Force said it regretted the incident, but insisted its pilot followed the appropriate procedures.

Disagreement

Amid the continuing disagreements, officials from both countries agreed to launch a joint probe into last week's incident.

A statement by the US Air Force said the decision had been made "in view of the different versions put out by the media."

The Peruvian Air Force and the US Embassy in Lima agreed "to carry out a joint investigation by a team of specialists from both countries ... to determine the causes that led to the incident," the statement said.

Peruvians thought the plane was carrying drugs

Meanwhile, US surveillance missions, which have flown over the region since 1995 under a programme aimed at suppressing cocaine-smuggling, have been suspended.

The Peruvian Air Force also decided to "temporarily suspend interception operations until the conclusion of the investigation," said the US statement.

Refraining from blame

The plane was shot down by a Peruvian fighter jet over Peru's Amazon jungle region on Friday.

Missionary Veronica "Ronnie" Bowers, 35, and her seven-month-old adopted daughter, Charity, were both killed when their single-engine plane was riddled with bullets before ditching into the Amazon River.

Pilot Kevin Donaldson was injured. Also onboard, but unhurt, were Mrs Bowers' husband, Jim, 35, and their six-year-old son, Cory.

The Peruvian Defence Ministry expressed "deep regret" over the deaths.

The Peruvians thought the plane carried narcotics

But it defended its actions, saying the plane had been intercepted after it ignored internationally-recognised warnings, leading to suspicions that it was involved in drug-trafficking.

The missionaries dispute this version of events.

And US officials have claimed that the crew of a surveillance plane tried to stop the Peruvian authorities from shooting at a plane carrying US missionaries.

The anti-drugs surveillance plane provided the Peruvian Air Force with location data on the Cessna flown by the missionaries.

"The actions taken seemingly are not in compliance with procedures laid out," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"The president is not interested in assigning blame, the president is interested in making sure that we don't let it happen again."