AFGHAN villagers have accused coalition troops of bombing a wedding party and killing 40 people, mostly children.
The bride was among the wounded when a coalition forces' air strike took place during a clash between foreign troops and Taleban insurgents in the village of Wech Baghtu, Shah Wali Kot district, according to one of her relatives.
Along with a grou
p of others wounded in the strike – thought to be three children with shrapnel wounds and seven other women – she was brought to the main hospital in Kandahar.
The bombing destroyed a housing complex where women and children had gathered to celebrate, villagers said. Body parts littered the wreckage and nearby farm animals lay dead.
Villager Abdul Jalil, a 37-year-old grape farmer who was uncle to the bride, said that US troops and Taleban had been fighting about a half mile from his home.
Commander Jeff Bender, a US forces spokesman, said: "The coalition and Afghan authorities are investigating reports of non-combatant casualties in the village of Wech Baghtu.
"If innocent people were killed in this operation, we apologise and express our condolences to the families and the people of Afghanistan."
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, yesterday called on the US to stop the killing of civilians.
He said: "Civilian casualties should completely stop. The war in the villages of Afghanistan will never give fruit."
Scores of Afghans have been killed in United States air strikes this year, leading to resentment against the presence of foreign troops and a rift between Mr Karzai and his western backers.
