Witnesses say Iraqi wedding attacked near Syria
From Wolf Blitzer
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Video shot and distributed by Associated Press Television News shows graves being dug Wednesday in western Iraq. Iraqi witnesses tell AP it's the aftermath of an attack by American military aircraft on a wedding party.
One man says, "A plane came and struck at the wedding and killed the whole family at three o'clock in the morning and lots of houses were blown up."
Another says, "Twenty-six people were killed from one family and five of the same family are seriously injured at the hospital."
A senior military coalition official puts the number even higher, saying as many as 40 people were killed. But the official says he believes the attack was against a safe house used by foreign fighters.
Pentagon officials deny a mistaken attack on a wedding party -- insisting U.S. troops were returning fire on anti-coalition forces.
The taped witnesses identified the village as al Qa'im, which maps show is on the Iraqi side of the Syrian border, along the Euphrates River.
