{"article":{"id":110678,"heading":"U.S. helicopter kills 40 terrorists in Iraq","author":"Don't get married in Iraq","created":"2004-05-20 14:43:46","modified":"2004-05-20 20:45:39","last_modified":"Fri, 21 May 2004 03:45:39","article":"

U.S. Reportedly Kills 40 Iraqis at Party



By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party early Wednesday in western Iraq (news - web sites), killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.

Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45 a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said those killed included 15 children and 10 women.

Dr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.

Associated Press Television News obtained videotape showing a truck containing bodies of those allegedly killed.

About a dozen bodies, one without a head, could be clearly seen. but it appeared that bodies were piled on top of each other and a clear count was not possible.

Iraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers had fired into the air in a traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.

\"I cannot comment on this because we have not received any reports from our units that this has happened nor that any were involved in such a tragedy,\" Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a U.S. military spokesman, wrote in an e-mail in response to a question from The Associated Press.

\"We take all these requests seriously and we have forwarded this inquiry to the Joint Operations Center for further review and any other information that may be available,\" Williams said.

The video footage showed mourners with shovels digging graves. A group of men crouched and wept around one coffin.

Al-Ani said people at the wedding fired weapons in the air, and that American troops came to investigate and left. However, al-Ani said, helicopters attacked the area at about 3 a.m. Two houses were destroyed, he said.

U.S. troops took the bodies and the wounded in a truck to Rutba hospital, he said.

\"This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought us?\" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. \"There was no reason.\"

Another man shown on the tape, who refused to give his name, said the victims were at a wedding party \"and the U.S. military planes came... and started killing everyone in the house.\"

In July 2002, Afghan officials said 48 civilians at a wedding party were killed and 117 wounded by a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s Uruzgan province. An investigative report released by the U.S. Central Command said the airstrike was justified because American planes had come under fire

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/story.news.yahoo.com\/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=\/ap\/20040519\/ap_on_re_mi_ea\/iraq_attack","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":""This was a wedding and the (U.S.) planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that (President) Bush has brought us?" said a man on the videotape, Dahham Harraj. "There was no reason." \r\n","numcomment":6,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/05\/110678.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":110684,"heading":"Several were children, one of whom had been decapitated","article":"Associated Press Television News footage showed a truck containing bloodied bodies, many wrapped in blankets, piled one atop the other. Several were CHILDREN, one of whom had been DECAPITATED.","author":"Associated Press","parent_id":110678,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-05-20 17:27:31","modified":"2004-05-20 17:27:31","fileurl":""},{"id":110687,"heading":"so desperate for bad news","article":"The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.
\r\nThe U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.
\r\nThe U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.
\r\nThe U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.<\/B>\r\n","author":"Associated Press","parent_id":110678,"mime_type":"text\/html","created":"2004-05-20 18:01:08","modified":"2004-05-20 18:01:08","fileurl":""},{"id":110692,"heading":"The slaughter continues","article":"This is not a war anymore. It is just a slughter. Never really was a war, just like the psychopath was never really America's elected president.\r\n\r\nPassing the buck while brainwashed kids in American soldiers uniforms are ordered to torture and slaughter civilians, that's what the administration preaches and the army of one is an army coming undone.\r\n\r\nFallujah never fell.\r\nAmerica has lost another war\r\nBring the soldiers home now\r\nbefore they are ordered to commit \r\nmore atrocities and murders...\r\nthe psychopathic liar bush never had control and now he is just becoming another American war criminal.","author":"Parmenides","parent_id":110678,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-05-20 18:31:01","modified":"2004-05-20 18:31:01","fileurl":""},{"id":110696,"heading":"15 children and 10 women","article":"In Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said US forces had targeted a building suspected of housing foreign fighters.\r\n\r\n"Coalition forces came under hostile fire and close air support was provided," Kimmitt read from a statement. Coalition forces on the ground recovered numerous weapons, two million Iraqi and Syrian dinar, foreign passports, and a SATCOM radio," he added.\r\n\r\nHe said the attack took place at 3:00 am (1100 GMT Tuesday) 85 kilometres (55 miles) southwest of Husaybah, and 25 kilometres from the Syrian border.\r\n\r\nLt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of the city of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people died in the attack, which took place about 2:45 a.m. in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan. He said those killed included 15 children and 10 women.\r\n\r\nDr. Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.\r\n\r\nIraqis interviewed on the videotape said partygoers had fired into the air in a traditional wedding celebration. American troops have sometimes mistaken celebratory gunfire for hostile fire.\r\n\r\n"I cannot comment on this because we have not received any reports from our units that this has happened nor that any were involved in such a tragedy," said Lt. Col. Dan Williams, a US military spokesman. ","author":"Middle East Online","parent_id":110678,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2004-05-20 18:53:42","modified":"2005-08-15 02:56:33","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/05\/bodies-19-5-2004.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2004\/05\/bodies-19-5-2004.jpg"}},{"id":110700,"heading":"Wargasm","article":"We declare a wargasm in Iraq.","author":"US Information Agency","parent_id":110678,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-05-20 19:16:39","modified":"2004-05-20 19:16:39","fileurl":""},{"id":110711,"heading":"OUTRAGE! OUTRAGE! OUTRAGE!","article":"ENOUGH! NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL! STOP THIS DAMN WAR!\r\n\r\nHow many more beheadings, car bombs, shootings, tortures, murder of innocents are we to accept?!\r\n\r\nTHAT'S IT.... STOP THIS INSANE NIGHTMARE!\r\n\r\nGET OUT NOW! BRING THE TROOPS HOME!","author":"Ya Basta!","parent_id":110678,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2004-05-20 20:45:39","modified":"2004-05-20 20:45:39","fileurl":""}]}