Rainbow Warrior bomber says sorry

A FRENCH secret agent involved in the sinking of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior ship in 1985, killing a photographer, has broken his 30-year silence and apologised for his actions in a television interview for the first time.

Jean-Luc Kister, who led the dive team that placed bombs on the ship in New Zealand, said the action "resulted in the accidental death of an innocent man" - a Greenpeace photographer, Fernando Pereira, who drowned.

The attack was aimed at stopping a Greenpeace protest against French nuclear testing in French Polynesia. France sent 13 agents to the Pacific to carry out the sinking.

Colonel Kister told New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ: "For us it was just like using boxing gloves in order to crush a mosquito. It was a disproportionate operation, but we had to obey the order, we were soldiers."

He said the aim of the mission was "not to injure anyone". France has apologised and paid damages for the bombing.

Greenpeace said in a statement that the apology "will not bring Fernando back but proves once again that our colleague was sacrificed in the name of a state interest that even one of the state's servants is calling into question".

The environmental campaign group is calling for a road in Paris to be named after Pereira.