| Deh Bala wedding party bombing | |||||||
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Deh Bala wedding party bombing refers to the killing of a large number of Afghan civilians mostly women and children who were walking the bride of a wedding ceremony to the groom's village in Dih Bala district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.[1][2]
When the group was stopping for a rest it was hit by at least three U.S. military bombs that killed most of the victims instantly on July 6, 2008.[3] The U.S. military initially denied that any civilians were killed in the incident.[4][5]
An investigation ordered by President Karzai and led by a nine-man commission of the senate found that 47 civilians including the bride had been killed, this was also confirmed by human rights officials.[6][7][8]
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The Guardian December 16, 2008:[3]
- It was 7.30 on a hot July morning when the plane came swooping low over the remote ravine. Below, a bridal party was making its way to the groom's village in an area called Kamala, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, to prepare for the celebrations later that day.
- The first bomb hit a large group of children who had run on ahead of the main procession. It killed most of them instantly.
- A few minutes later, the plane returned and dropped another bomb, right in the centre of the group. This time the victims were almost all women. Somehow the bride and two girls survived but as they scrambled down the hillside, desperately trying to get away from the plane, a third bomb caught them. Hajj Khan was one of four elderly men escorting the bride's party that day.
- "We were walking, I was holding my grandson's hand, then there was a loud noise and everything went white. When I opened my eyes, everybody was screaming. I was lying metres from where I had been, I was still holding my grandson's hand but the rest of him was gone. I looked around and saw pieces of bodies everywhere. I couldn't make out which part was which."
- Relatives from the groom's village said it was impossible to identify the remains. They buried the 47 victims in 28 graves.
An investigation ordered by President Karzai and led by a nine-man commission of the senate found that 47 civilians including the bride had been killed, this was also confirmed by human rights officials.[6][8]
Burhanullah Shinwari member of the commission told the BBC: "There are 39 women and children" among those killed, he said. The eight other people who died were "between the ages of 14 and 18".[9]
Another nine people were wounded in the attack.[7]
President Hamid Karzai visited the site where the US-led strikes hit the wedding.[10] Rock band The Airborne Toxic Event recorded a track protesting the bombing entitled "Welcome to Your Wedding Day" on their second album All at Once.[11]
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