Recently unveiled U.S. military records appear to shed new light on the deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

The four were killed by friendly fire, the documents suggest.

However, both the Canadian government and the soldiers’ families have disputed the reports.

Sergeant Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Private William Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan were killed in the Panjwaii district on September 3, 2006.  

The leaked documents suggest the four died when a NATO bomb detonated.

But a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay agreed with initial reports, saying the four were killed by insurgents during Operation Medusa.

Stachnik's mother, Avril, agrees. She told The Canadian Press she is certain her son was killed by the Taliban.

She says a vehicle he was in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and her son was hit in the neck by shrapnel. The soldier's mother also says she was told about this version of events by one of her son's best friends, who was with him at the time.

With files from The Canadian Press.