A FULL military funeral for the first Australian soldier killed in Iraq was called off yesterday after his widow and parents learnt that the coffin flown from Baghdad contained the body of a soldier from Bosnia.

Private Jake Kovco, 25, a sniper and member of an Australian Army infantry parachute battalion, died a week ago after his pistol was accidentally discharged, shooting him in the head while he was off duty in Baghdad.

The father of two was to have been buried yesterday with full military honours near his home town of Sale, Victoria, with senior Australian Defence Force officers in attendance. He was the first fatality among the 850 Australians serving in Iraq. But shortly after a commercial flight from Kuwait landed in Melbourne late on Wednesday, it was discovered that the plain wooden military coffin did not contain the remains of Private Kovco. Rather, the remains were those of another soldier killed in Iraq, apparently a Bosnian.

The error was discovered by military officers at Melbourne airport. Brendan Nelson, the Australian Defence Minister, and the Chief of the Army flew to tell Private Kovco’s widow, Shelley, and his parents what had happened. Shelley Kovco demanded to speak to John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, who was awakened in Sydney to take her call. Mr Howard said that he was angered by the incident.

The body is expected to arrive in Australia this weekend. Government officials blamed Kenyon International Emergency Services, a US contractor, for the mistake. Kenyon said that representatives of the Australian Government were responsible for the identification of the body.

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