BREAKING: "Friendly Fire" U.S. Bomb Kills At Least 250 At Afghan Wedding

MSNBC Breaking Live

[RCW2001]

BREAKING: "Friendly Fire" U.S. Bomb Kills At Least 250 At Afghan Wedding

At least 400 injured...searching for wire copy.

[seeker41]

I've been wondering when the Afgans would turn on us, seems like sooner rather then later...

[Poohbah]

Jeez, if this is true, this is the mother of all f***ups.

[max_rpf]

I don't know what is going on -- FNC reported that US planes came under 'anti-aircraft' fire and bombed the source, MSNBC is quoting an AP story from 'sources inside the Afgan govt' telling them that the US killed 250 and wounded 400. If this happend in the last two hours, how would they even have these figures? Apparently, this is a VERY remote area with little to no 'services'... Hmmmmmmm.

I REALLY hope that there is more to this story...

[RCW2001]

Found this on Reuters:

KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. plane killed or wounded at least 120 members of an Afghan wedding party in an attack on a village in Uruzgan province on Monday, residents said.

They said the bombing occurred 105 miles northeast of the southwestern city of Kandahar at about 1 a.m. local time.

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 organize aid and a commission has gone there headed by the ministry of frontiers affairs," he said.

Residents said between 120 and 150 people were either killed or wounded. There have been several reports of U.S. mistakenly attacking civilian targets since Washington's bombing offensive started in Afghanistan on Oct. 7 last year.

[AmishDude]

Watch, it'll be like the Jenin "massacre". I've been lied to once too often about atrocities.

[College Repub]

Could it be someone fired an anti aircraft from a large wedding area in order to get the US to bomb? I know sometimes palestinians will shoot from a mosque or church and then put thier kids out in front. Something similar could have happpend here.

[Howlin]

Exactly.

[CecilRhodesGhost]

Yes, Jenin and today's event are clearly similar. It's a great analogy you're floating!

[max_rpf]

The media has no clue what has happend. MSNBC now saying that the pentagon has admitted one 'errant bomb' and that there are likly civ. casualties. Reporter repeating that information from the past 'witnesses' has been routinely inflated.

Here is hoping they are lying as usual.

[KantianBurke]

Simple explanation. The fugitive Taliban and Al Queda want to stir up trouble. They take a page from the Palestinians and fire at US forces while mingling with civilians. If some US soliders get killed they're happy. And even better if innocent civilians die when US troops return fire. One would expect as much from such savages.

[big'ol_freeper]

How come every time there is one of these incidents its always an "Afghan wedding party"?

[Ingtar]

Don't they also fire weapons in the air to celebrate weddings over there?

[RCW2001]

AP version:

Afghans say U.S. helicopters, aircraft attacked wedding

Monday, July 1, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/07/01/international1228EDT0566.DTL

(07-01) 09:38 PDT KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) --

U.S. helicopter gunships and jets attacked a house Monday while a wedding was under way, killing and injuring scores, witnesses and hospital officials said.

The attack occurred in the village of Kakarak in Uruzgan province, where special forces and other coalition troops are searching for al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives.

A Pentagon spokesman said a coalition air reconnaissance patrol that was flying over Uruzgan province Sunday night reported coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire. Other coalition aircraft opened fire on the target and at least one bomb went astray.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was not immediately clear where the errant bomb hit. He said the Pentagon was aware of reports from Afghanistan of civilian casualties in Uruzgan province but it was unclear whether they were caused by the errant U.S. bomb or by falling anti-aircraft artillery.

The official had no other details, including the kind of U.S. aircraft that launched the errant bomb.

One survivor, Abdul Qayyum, told reporters at the Mir Wais Hospital in Kandahar that the attack began about 2 a.m. and continued until 4 a.m., after which U.S. special forces ground troops were in the area.

"The Americans came and asked me 'who fired on the helicopters', and I said 'I don't know' and one of the soldiers wanted to tie my hands but someone said he is an old man and out of the respect they didn't," he said.

Hospital officials said a number of wounded were being brought to Kandahar. Most of the dead and injured were women and children, they said.

"We have many children who are injured and who have no family," nurse Mohammed Nadir said. "Their families are gone. The villagers brought these children and they have no parents. Everyone says that their parents are dead."

Another nurse, Sher Mohammed, said he heard that scores were dead and injured.

[chemainus]

IF a missile was fired from a wedding, using 'innocents' as cover, then the innocents were not innocent and deserved to die for aiding those trying to kill our people. IF this is the case...too bad. There is a line in the sand...cross it at your peril.

[reaganite]

My first thought: Today is the first day of the International Criminal Court.

[BobinIL]

Who gets married at 1:00 AM? Something is fishey here

[fm1]

I hereby pronounce them plant food.

[MJY1288]

A wedding Party at 1:00 AM? Sounds fishy to me