U.S. accused of bombing wedding party in Fallujah

Big News Network | October 8 2004

A U.S. air strike in Fallujah Friday killed 14 and injured 16, mostly children and women, security reports said.

The strike occurred at dawn, targeting a building in which wedding celebrations were being held, witnesses said.

An emergency room doctor said the airstrike hit a wedding celebration, killing the groom and wounding several women and children. But U.S.-led forces said the strike targeted a terrorist safe house.

A U.S. military statement said the attack against hideouts of followers of Abu Misaab Zarqawi, the suspected al-Qaida leader in Iraq, was well coordinated and its targets well defined.

Dozens of people have been killed in recent weeks in almost daily air strikes on Fallujah, which the U.S. army said are aimed at foreign fighters entrenched in the city, a hotbed for Sunni insurgents fighting U.S. troops in Iraq.

Medics at the local hospital said many of the casualties were still buried under the rubble of the targeted buildings.

Dr. Ahmed Ghanem said 16 people were treated for serious to critical wounds and the hospital, the only one in the city, was operating at full capacity and could no longer accept more cases.

The raid Friday came hours after tribal leaders and Iraqi government officials said a peaceful settlement was almost reached to end violence in the city of 400,000 people and spare it an invasion similar to the one waged last week against Samara to root out the gunmen.

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