Day of bloodshed, day of outrage in Mideast
Forty-one people, many of them young children, were killed when a US helicopter attacked a wedding party in western Iraq, Iraqi officials said last night.
News of the killings almost eclipsed that of the first US soldier to be imprisoned for torturing and abusing Iraqi prisoners.
And in the immediate wake of receiving reassurances of support from US President George W Bush, Israeli forces yesterday killed 20 children and teenagers when its forces fired missile and tank shells near a large crowd of Palestinians demonstrating against the invasion of a Gaza refugee camp.
In Iraq, Lt Colonel Dan Williams, a US military spokesman, said the military was investigating the wedding attack.
The Dubai-based Al Arabiya television reported 41 were killed and at least 10 injured in the attack in a remote desert area near the border with Syria and Jordan.
The attack occurred about 2:45am, according to Lt Colonel Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, the provincial capital about 250 miles to the east.
He said between 42 and 45 people died, including 15 children and 10 women.
Dr Salah al-Ani, who works at a hospital in Ramadi, put the death toll at 45.
The partygoers were firing in the air in traditional wedding celebration when a US Apache helicopter strafed the gathering.
"This was a wedding and the planes came and attacked the people at a house. Is this the democracy and freedom that Bush has brought us?" said one survivor.
Last night, Israel faced further international condemnation having killed more than 20 Palestinians, all under 18 years of age near Gaza.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the offensive "unacceptable and wrong". Mr Bush declined to condemn the attack, saying he wanted to get "clarification" of the incident from Israeli officials.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for international observers to protect his people, describing the events in Rafah as "atrocious crimes".
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also joined in the criticism of Israel's tactics and urged a new commitment to the road-map plan for peace.
Meanwhile, US military policeman Jeremy Sivits, yesterday apologised to Iraqis at the first court martial of soldiers accused of abuses that sparked worldwide condemnation.
The court imposed a maximum one-year sentence on Sivits for his part in the abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, where naked and terrified Iraqi inmates were photographed while being physically and sexually abused.
Sivits, a 24-year-old reservist with the rank of Specialist, pointed the finger at others, against whom he will testify under a plea bargain, over the abuses.
General John Abizaid, head of US Central Command, has meanwhile said the situation in Iraq could become more violent after the June 30 hand over leading up to elections.
He said the situation could require the deployment of more US forces.
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