South Korean marine Corps troops fired at a passenger jet, mistaking it as communist North's jet fighters. No damage has been reported.

A Marine Corps spokesman said two soldiers guarding an island on the waters off the South's western city of Incheon, fired their K-2 rifles for about 10 minutes at around 4 a.m. on Friday. The target was a South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines descending to Seoul's main, Incheon International Airport carrying 119 passengers and crew on a flight from China.

Asiana Airlines officials maintained that the plane never went off course but the soldiers thought the plane was flying north of the normal air corridor.

We checked yesterday through the air force and the airport control center to make sure there were no abnormalities such as being off course, Yonhap News Agency quoted a company official as saying.

It has been reported that soldiers will undergo training to identify passenger planes.

There is heightened tension between the Koreas as South Korea had earlier refused to send a the group of North Koreans back who had crossed into southern waters by boat a week back, saying all nine have expressed the desire to defect.

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