US bombing kills at least 30 at Afghan wedding

A US plane bombed a village in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan yesterday killing at least 30 members of a wedding party and injuring many more, Afghan officials and residents said.

US military officials confirmed there had been civilian casualties and said the incident was being investigated.

The bombing happened at 1.00 a.m. yesterday in a village in the rugged, mountainous region 175 kilometres northeast of the southern city of Kandahar, residents said. They told the local Pashtu service of the BBC at least 120 people had been either killed or wounded.

An Afghan Defence Ministry official said celebrants were firing into the air, as is traditional in Pashtun weddings.

Resident Abdul Saboor told the BBC: "We managed to transfer some of the wounded to Kandahar in the morning. Some of the foreigners' choppers also came to help. There are no Taliban or al Qaeda or Arabs here. These people were all civilians, women and children."

Defence Ministry official Dr Gulbuddin told Reuters: "More than 30 people were killed. It was a wedding ceremony and some of the participants were firing in the sky as part of the celebration. Americans have confessed that they made a mistake."

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported that at least 100 people, mainly women, were killed. Quoting sources in the nearby Helmand and Kandahar provinces, it said: "The number of dead and injured could be more than 300."

It said the area was the ancestral home of Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the vanquished Taliban, and that US forces had launched an operation there several days ago in search of him.

In Washington, the Pentagon said at least one bomb dropped by Western warplanes had missed its target in southern Afghanistan yesterday, but that it could not confirm claims that members of a wedding party had been killed.

US Army Colonel Roger King, speaking at Bagram air base in Eastern Afghanistan, said a coalition reconnaissance operation came under anti-aircraft fire overnight north of Kandahar and had responded with close air support.

"We understand there were some civilian casualties during the operation. We do not yet know how many casualties or how they occurred," he told reporters.

King said four injured civilians had been evacuated by US forces and were being treated. He said the United States and coalition allies were conducting an investigation.

"The US government extends its deepest sympathies to those who may have lost loved ones or who may have suffered any injuries," he said. "Coalition military forces take extraordinary measures to protect against civilian casualties."

Pentagon spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr Jeff Davis said he could not confirm reports that at least one heavy US B-52 bomber and a four-engine AC-130 gunship had been called in to respond to fire from the ground.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), responsible for security in the capital Kabul, 280 km (170 miles) to the north, told Reuters it had contacted the US liaison office which had heard nothing of any attack.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the local Bakhtar Information Agency the "sudden attack" happened in the Dehrawud district of Uruzgan province.

"We are trying to organise aid and a commission has gone there headed by the ministry of frontiers affairs," he said.

The United States launched air strikes against Afghanistan last year against the al Qaeda network of Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York, and the group's Taliban protectors.

There have been several reports of the United States mistakenly attacking civilian targets in Afghanistan.

In May, the US army rejected reports it had mistakenly attacked a wedding party after AIP reported that US planes had pounded the village of Bul Khil in Khost province after mistaking traditional firing at a wedding for an attack.

One recent military investigation found that a US fighter pilot did not follow procedures when he mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan in April, killing four soldiers and injuring eight.