Key Points
- An unidentified object has been shot down over northern Canada.
- It's the third 'high altitude object' to be shot down over North Amercia in the space of a week.
- The first object to be shot down was a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
A US F-22 fighter jet shot has down an unidentified cylindrical object over Canada, the second such shootdown in as many days.
North America is on heightened alert following a week-long Chinese spying balloon saga that drew the global spotlight.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced the shoot-down over the Yukon territory in the country's north and said Canadian forces would recover and analyse the wreckage.
Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand declined to speculate about the origin of the object, which she said was cylindrical in shape.
She stopped short of describing it as a balloon but said it was smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down off South Carolina's coast a week ago, but similar in appearance.
She said it was flying at 40,000 feet (about 12km) and posed a risk to civilian air traffic when it was shot down .
"There is no reason to believe that the impact of the object in Canadian territory is of any public concern," Ms Anand told a news conference.
The Pentagon said the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detected the object over Alaska late on Friday evening.
, though authorities have not provided details on what it was.
According to US Northern Command, recovery operations continued on Saturday both near Deadhorse, Alaska, and off South Carolina.
In a statement, the Northern Command said there were no new details on what the object was that a US fighter jet shot down over Alaska.
It said the Alaska Command and the Alaska National Guard, along with the FBI and local law enforcement, were conducting search and recovery.
"Arctic weather conditions, including wind chill, snow, and limited daylight, are a factor in this operation, and personnel will adjust recovery operations to maintain safety," the statement said.
"Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice."
It added that the Navy continued survey and recovery activities on the ocean floor off South Carolina, and the Coast Guard was providing security.
Additional debris was pulled out on Friday, and additional operations would continue as weather permits, the statement said.
