November 06, 2008	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1429

WOCHA BAKHTA (Afghanistan), Nov 5: Weeping Afghan villagers said on Wednesday that a wedding party was turned into a bloodbath after foreign troops unleashed a massive attack thinking they were targeting militants.

Residents of Wocha Bakhta village, 80 kilometres north of the southern city of Kandahar, said 36 people were killed in hours of fighting on 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 that 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 2pm until 12 at night they kept the village under fire from helicopters, jet fighters and troops on the ground,” Jalil said.

The father of the bride, Roozbeen Khan, said he had lost six relatives.

“My wounded son was in my arms, right here, bleeding,” he cried, standing next to a large bloodstain. “He died last night.” “I lost two sons, two grandsons, a nephew, my mother and a cousin,” Khan wailed, adding “Why? Why?”

His daughter was among seven of his relatives who were wounded. The groom survived but his father, mother and sister were killed, he said.

Villagers showed AFP a large compound that they said was turned into rubble by the strikes while body parts and bloodstains could be seen in the area.

There were 16 freshly filled graves, three of children.

The village religious cleric, Mullah Mohammad Asim, said he had counted 36 bodies.

“They bombed six to seven houses. They pounded and fired into the village from afternoon until midnight,” Asim said.

“At midnight, the Americans came and they took the men out of the houses and handcuffed them. But when they saw the death and the destruction, they removed the handcuffs and told us to take the wounded to hospital,” he said.

They had only managed to take the wounded to hospitals the following day.—AFP