'Unidentified object' shot down over Canada: Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday an "unidentified object" was shot down over northwestern Canada, one day after US officials said they had shot down a similar object over Alaska.

"Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled, and a US F-22 successfully fired at the object," Trudeau tweeted.

The operation came one week after US forces downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon that sparked a diplomatic rift with Beijing and triggered alarm over serial intrusions into the continent's airspace.

Trudeau said that Canadian forces in the Yukon "will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object."

He said he spoke with US President Joe Biden over the latest incursion.

The object was shot down Saturday over the Yukon, which borders Alaska, where US fighter jets off the state's north coast downed another object Friday.

Search and recovery operations for the remains of that object continued Saturday but were hindered by Arctic "wind chill, snow, and limited daylight," the US Northern Command said in a statement.

"Recovery activities are occurring on sea ice," it said, adding that the Pentagon could offer "no further details... about the object, including its capabilities, purpose, or origin."

Saturday's detection and downing of an airborne object marked the third time in the past three weeks that an airship has crossed into North America.

Last month, a giant balloon carrying electronics -- which the Pentagon described as a spy vessel -- flew over Canada and the United States, sparking a diplomatic dispute with China, which acknowledged ownership of that aircraft.

That massive balloon crossed into US airspace in Alaska on January 28, traversing Canada and much of the United States before it was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina on February 4.