Home »Top Stories » US air strike kills 12 at wedding in Fallujah

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  • Oct 9th, 2004
  • Comments Off on US air strike kills 12 at wedding in Fallujah
Twelve people were killed and the bride at a wedding party was among the wounded when US warplanes bombed the city of Fallujah early Friday, doctors said. The US military said it was a "precision strike" targeting leaders of Iraq's most wanted man, the al Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

"We have received 10 dead and 16 wounded," said Dr Khaled Mohammad, noting that the bride was among nine injured females.

Two more bodies were pulled from the rubble of a house where the wedding party had taken place, which was destroyed in the attack, said a second doctor at Fallujah general hospital, Ali Hayad.

The US military gave no information on casualties in a statement released after the raid.

"This strike contributed to reducing the capability of the Zarqawi network and increasing safety and security throughout Iraq," it said.

"Credible intelligence sources confirmed Zarqawi leaders were meeting at the safe house at the time of the strike," the US Army said in the statement, noting that the "precision strike" took place at 1:15 am (local Time).

Meanwhile, a US missile killed three men who an American officer said were planting a bomb in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City before dawn on Friday.

"It was a precision engagement, it was a missile," said Colonel Abe Abram, who is in charge of US forces in the restive area. A US military spokesman added that the men had been preparing a roadside bomb.

Doctor Mohammed Khudair at the local Imam Ali hospital said that three civilians had been killed in what he described as an "air strike".

"Two shops were also destroyed," the doctor said.

The attack took place in a central area of the impoverished neighbourhood, which is the scene of near daily clashes between US troops and militiamen loyal to Moqtada Sadr.

Furthermore, a US soldier was killed and another wounded in an attack in northern Iraq on Friday afternoon, the military said.

"One Task Force Danger soldier was killed and another was wounded when their patrol was attacked near Tuz on Friday at about 0843 GMT," a statement said.

Meanwhile, a video released by militants and seen by Reuters on Friday showed them beheading British hostage Kenneth Bigley in Iraq. Bigley was shown speaking as six militants stood behind him. One read a statement and then cut his head off with a knife.

A US marine patrol watched insurgents blow up the Red Crescent offices in the rebel stronghold of Ramadi on Friday, the military said in a statement.

"At approximately 4:30 pm, a US Marine Corps security patrol witnessed the explosion of the Red Crescent building in downtown Ramadi," the military said.

"Reports from the patrol also noted four insurgents video taping the destruction of the community medical facility ... The insurgents ran into a nearby mosque for cover as the patrol approached."

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2004


Copyright Reuters, 2004


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