US Bombs Afghan Wedding Party- Pentagon Changes Their Story

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.

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 firing of weapons skyward is a common practice at many Afghani weddings, and was apparently just cause enough for US bombers to reciprocate with gunfire and what is now being called an "errant" bomb.

However, the Pentagon still has yet to come up with a coherent story. Read the statements below:

"An unknown number of Afghan civilians reportedly are casualties following a coalition air patrol's response to hostile ground fire," a Pentagon spokesman said.

"US Air Force B-52 and AC 130 aircraft struck several ground targets, including anti-aircraft sites that were engaging the aircraft," US Central Command officials reported. But they then said: "It's unclear whether those casualties were the result of our errant bomb or from falling anti-aircraft artillery."

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.

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