Washington, 23 February 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said that the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command shot down an unidentified object that violated his country's airspace.

Trudeau said the object was shot down by the NORAD over the Yukon, a territory bordering Alaska in north-western Canada, on his orders.

"Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object," Trudeau said in a tweet.

Canada's Minister of National Defence Anita Anand said the "small, cylindrical object" shot down by a US aircraft some 100 miles (160 kilometres) from the US border in central Yukon posed a "reasonable threat."

"The object was flying at an altitude of approximately 40,000 feet [12,200 metres], had unlawfully entered Canadian airspace and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight," Anand said in a press conference.

"From all indications this object is potentially similar to the one that was shot down off the coast of [South] Carolina though smaller in size and cylindrical in nature," she added.

Trudeau said he had spoked with US President Joe Biden and that Canadian Forces would now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object.

NORAD, a joint Canadian-US force, also said that on Friday at 1:45 pm "fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command" shot down a separate "high altitude airborne object" off the northern coast of Alaska within US territorial water on Biden's command. US authorities were conducting search and recovery operations.

The events come a week after US officials shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the Atlantic coast of South Carolina that was thought to be gathering intelligence about weapons in the US.

Washington accused Beijing of using it for surveillance purposes after the aircraft was discovered over US airspace.

Beijing insisted the balloon was a civilian aircraft, and asserted that Washington shooting it down was an "obvious overreaction."

Beijing argued that the balloon served "civilian purposes," citing science and meteorology and said the aircraft had veered off course and was hard to manoeuvre.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a planned trip to China over the incident, which has raised tensions in an already fraught relationship.

Earlier this week, China also conceded that a large balloon discovered over Colombia belonged to Beijing.