Weeping Afghan villagers said Wednesday that a wedding party was turned into a bloodbath after foreign troops unleashed a massive attack thinking they were targeting insurgents. Residents of Wocha Bakhta village, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the southern city of Kandahar, said 36 people were killed and others wounded in hours of fighting Monday.
There was no immediate confirmation of the number of dead. The US military acknowledged there were casualties and said it was investigating. Villagers told an AFP reporter that a wedding lunch had just ended and the bride was preparing to say farewell to her family when it was believed a Taliban insurgent fired at international troops on a nearby hill.
The soldiers returned fire into the village and called for air support, said a man who gave his name as Abdul Jalil and said he was a cousin of the wounded bride.
"They surrounded the village. From 2:00 pm until 12 at night they kept the village under fire from helicopters, jet fighters and troops on the ground," Jalil said. Villagers showed AFP a large compound that they said was turned into rubble by the strikes while body parts and blood stains could be seen in the area. There were 16 freshly filled graves, three of children.
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