Deadly U.S. Attack On Afghan Wedding

Dozens of civilians were killed or injured Monday in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan after what appears to be a catastrophic accident in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The civilians, many of whom had been celebrating a wedding, apparently came under fire from a U.S. military aircraft that believed it was under attack.

The details, including exactly how many civilians were killed or wounded, are still hazy, but if the accounts of local villagers are correct, this could be the worst accident of the war, with as many as 100 dead and injured.

CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports it happened in the village of Kakarak, about 100 miles north of Kandahar, an area where the onetime Taliban ruler Mullah Omar is believed to be hiding.

American Special Forces had been watching the area for days and were convinced it was a Taliban or al Qaeda stronghold. With an AC-130 gunship orbiting overhead, the attack began in the predawn darkness of Monday morning. The AC-130 spotted ground fire, believed it was being targeted by anti-aircraft guns, and returned fire with its own guns, which can pump out thousands of rounds per minute.

"We understand that there were some civilian casualties in the operation, but we do not yet know how many casualties or how they occurred," said U.S. military spokesman Col. Roger King from Bagram air base. "The United States expresses its deepest sympathies to those who have lost their loved ones."

He said at least four of the injured were treated by U.S. forces.

Bismullah, communications chief of Uruzgan province, said villagers in Kakarak were firing weapons in the air during the wedding - a common practice in rural Afghanistan - when U.S. planes attacked. He said about 40 people were killed and 70 injured.

Noor Mohammed, leader of neighboring Gujran district, reported the same casualty figures and said Afghans were "upset because innocent people have died."

In the southern city of Kandahar, where many of the victims were taken, Afghans said the attack began about 2 a.m. and lasted for about two hours. A nurse at the Kandahar hospital, Sher Mohammed, said he heard that about 120 people were killed.

Hospital officials said most of the dead and injured were women and children. One of the injured, a 6-year-old girl named Paliko, was brought to the hospital still wearing her party dress. Villagers said all members of her family were killed.

Another injured child, 7-year-old Malika, lost her mother, father, a brother and a sister, according to neighbors who brought her to the hospital.

"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."

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said a coalition air reconnaissance patrol that was flying over Uruzgan province reported coming under anti-aircraft artillery fire. Other coalition aircraft opened fire on the target.

Meanwhile, a Pentagon official said a B-52 was on a strike mission against a cave complex in Uruzgan — an event that appeared unrelated to the reported anti-aircraft artillery fire. The B-52 may have dropped a bomb that went astray, he said.

In Kandahar, one survivor, Abdul Qayyum, told reporters at the Mir Wais Hospital that after the attack, the Americans came to the area demanding to know "who fired on the helicopters."

"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.

The injured also included Haji Mohammed Anwar, who Afghans said was a friend of President Hamid Karzai and one of the first prominent local figures who rose up against the former Taliban regime.

The bombing occurred in the same province where U.S. special forces killed 21 Afghans when they stormed buildings in Khas Uruzgan village on Jan. 23 looking for al Qaeda and Taliban forces. The Pentagon later acknowledged that none of those killed were al Qaeda or Taliban, but Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld cleared the Americans of any wrongdoing.

In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Karzai expressed concern that innocent Afghan civilians are being caught in the cross fire in the war on terrorism.

"I will definitely want the Afghan civilians, the Afghan villages to be immune from accidental damage," Karzai said. "To be sure that they do not receive accidental firing at them. To make sure that our women and children and villages don't suffer."

In areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan, where U.S. special forces and their coalition allies have focused their war against fugitive al Qaeda and Taliban elements, some villagers say they are being wrongly targeted for arrest or harassment as al Qaeda and Taliban suspects.