Villagers claim US warplanes kill 27 wedding guests

Afghan villagers say US warplanes have bombed a wedding party, killing 37 people, including 23 children and 10 women.

The US military said it was investigating the report but an American spokesman added that “if innocent people were killed in this operation, we apologise and express our condolences.”

The bombing on Monday afternoon of the remote village of Wech Baghtu in the southern province of Kandahar destroyed an Afghan housing complex where women and children had gathered to celebrate.

Body parts littered the wreckage and nearby farm animals lay dead.

Villager Abdul Jalil told an Associated Press reporter at the scene of the bombing that US troops and Taliban fighters had been fighting about a half mile from his home but that the militants fled and sought shelter in his grape orchards and in or near his home.

A bombing run by fighter aircraft a short while later destroyed his compound and killed 37 people, including 23 children, 10 women and four men, Mr Jalil said.