Survivors recount attack on Afghan villages

By ADAM BROWN, KAKARAK, Afghanistan (July 3, 2002 11:02 a.m. EDT) - Several hundred people were singing and dancing by the light of a tractor's headlights when a U.S. plane suddenly rocketed the compound, killing partygoers and sending others fleeing into the darkness, survivors said Wednesday.

Afghan officials say 40 people were killed and about 100 wounded in the pre-dawn raid Monday on a cluster of villages here in Uruzgan province about 175 miles southwest of Kabul.

A joint U.S.-Afghan delegation visited the area Wednesday to investigate the attack, which the Pentagon said was launched after coalition forces in the area came under fire.

Twenty-five of the dead, all members of a single extended family, were attending a party at the home of Mohammed Sherif, brother of one of President Hamid Karzai's close allies, to celebrate the marriage of Sherif's son, Abdul Malik, which was to have occurred this week.

By tradition, neither Malik nor his fiance was present and both escaped injury. Sherif, however, was among the dead.

Although Afghans often fire weapons at such festivities, survivors insisted there had been no shooting for several hours before the raid. They said they could hear the sound of U.S. aircraft overhead but paid them no mind since such overflights are common.

"The first rocket hit the women's section," said Ahmed Jan Agha, who was playing a traditional Afghan drum during the party. "The second rocket hit the men's section. Then everybody started running. The airplanes were shooting rockets at the people running away. They were chasing us."

Agha said he could not see the planes because of the darkness and had no idea how many took part in the attack. He said survivors hid in the nearby orchards and fields while the attack continued in the area for about four hours.

"I was standing here and the airplane came over us," said Ghulam Jan Agha, 25, his arm bandaged because of wounds. "It was normal for us so we didn't run" until the explosion began.

When the planes were gone, Agha said American and Afghan troops entered the village, set in a narrow valley between two rocky mountain ranges.

"They told everybody to stay inside their homes," Agha said of the Americans. "They only allowed the injured to leave." The Americans left about noon, he said. That's when the Afghans started burying their dead.

At Sherif's compound, two gaping holes could be seen in the roof of the house. The mud walls facing the inside of the compound were pockmarked with shrapnel holes, and bits of metal shards were scattered through the yard. Dried blood and bits of human remains littered the area.

Forty pairs of shoes were still at the front door of the house, in keeping with Afghan tradition which requires visitors to remove footwear before entering. Nearby lay a pile of women's clothing. A small boy stood in front of the pile weeping.

Next door, several angry Afghans pointed to flesh and bloodstains mixed in with straw.

"My heart is burning with anger," said Malik, who plans to go ahead with his wedding. "The Americans should be put on trial."

He angrily denied that there were al-Qaida or Taliban fugitives in his village.

"They say they were looking for al-Qaida," said Malik, who stood with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder. "But did they find any dead bodies of al-Qaida people here? We are all the right-hand men of Hamid Karzai and we support his government."

He said no one had offered any compensation for his family's loss.

"If someone handed over the whole of Afghanistan to me, it would be no compensation for this," he muttered.

HOME
CIA torture
An Outlaw State?
Victims of State Terrorism
Civilian Victims of Aerial Bombing