U.S. Reportedly Kills 40 Iraqis at PartyBAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A U.S.
helicopter fired on a wedding party early
Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials
said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was
investigating.
Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said
between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45
a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said
those killed included 15 children and 10 women.
Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at
45.
Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck
containing bodies of those allegedly killed.
About a dozen bodies, one without a head, could be clearly seen. but it
appeared that bodies were piled on top of each other and a clear count was
not possible.
Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers had fired into the air
in a traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes
mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.
"I cannot comment on this because we have not received any reports from our
units that this has happened nor that any were involved in such a tragedy,"
Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a U.S. military spokesman, wrote in an e-mail in
response to a question from The Associated Press.
"We take all these requests seriously and we have forwarded this inquiry to
the Joint Operations Center for further review and any other information
that may be available," Williams said.
The video footage showed mourners with shovels digging graves. A group of
men crouched and wept around one coffin.
Al-Ani said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that
American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said,
helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m. Two houses were destroyed, he
said.
U.S. troops took the bodies and the wounded in a truck to Rutba hospital, he
said.
"This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a
house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought
us?" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. "There was no reason."
Another man shown on the tape, who refused to give his name, said the
victims were at a wedding party "and the U.S. military planes came... and
started killing everyone in the house."
In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were
killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan's Uruzgan
province. An investigative report released by the U.S. Central Command said
the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire.
