US kills 40 partygoers in Iraq

2004-05-19 19:27

Baghdad - A United States helicopter fired on a wedding party on Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, said Iraqi officials.

The US military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people were killed in the attack, which took place about 02:45 in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said the dead included 15 children and 10 women.

Associated Press Television News obtained video footage showing a truck containing bodies of people who were apparently killed in the attack.

Most of the bodies were wrapped in blankets and other cloths, but the footage showed at least eight uncovered, bloody bodies, several of them children. One of the children was headless.

Have sometimes mistaken gunfire as celebratory

Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers were firing in the air in traditional wedding celebration.

American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.

Dan Williams, a US military spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail in response to a question: "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.

"We take all these requests seriously and we have forwarded this inquiry to the joint operations centre for further review and any other information that may be available," Williams said.

APTN footage showed the truck of bodies and mourners with shovels digging graves over a wide, dusty area in Ramadi. A group of men crouched and wept around one coffin.

A stronghold of insurgents

Al-Ani said people at the wedding were firing weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and then left.

However, he said, helicopters attacked the area at about 03:00. Two houses were destroyed in the attack.

US troops took the bodies and those injured in a truck to Rutba hospital, he said.

Ramadi is a stronghold of insurgents who are fighting the US-led coalition.

In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a US airstrike in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province.

An investigative report released by the US central command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire.

- AP