Afghan leader visits site where US-led strikes hit wedding
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai flew Thursday to a remote village to commiserate with families of 47 civilians killed when US-led coalition air strikes hit a wedding party, his office said.
The president, who rarely travels in Afghanistan because of the threat from extremist insurgents, flew to Deh Bala near the border with Pakistan by helicopter and met more than 100 tribal elders for two hours, it said.
"I have not come here today to make political speeches, I have come to share your grief," he told the gathering according to audio copies handed to the media, who were not invited to the event.
Karzai also met relatives of the victims -- mostly women and children -- of the July 6 strikes which the coalition has said killed only militants.
The president said his government would send to Mecca the head of every family that had lost someone. A Muslim is expected to make the pilgrimage if they have the means.
He also promised land to those affected by the strikes, according to the audio copies.
One of the elders, Abdul Satar, said ordinary people had become a "shield" in the fight between insurgents and government.
"We have become a defending shield against terrorists. We do not allow anyone to use our territories against this government but we still get killed," he said in the material provided to media.
Civilians are regularly caught in the crossfire of an insurgency launched after the hardline Islamic Taliban regime was removed from power in late 2001 in a US-led invasion.
Most are killed in rebel attacks but dozens have also been killed in military action this year.
A statement from the president's office about the visit said 45 civilians were killed in the strikes in Deh Bala of Nangarhar province.
An investigation said 47 had died, including the bride, an official has told AFP.
The coalition has also been accused of killing another 15 civilians in an air strike in Nuristan province two days before the Nangarhar incident.
The force, which is helping the government fight an insurgency led by the hardline Taliban, has said it knows of only militants killed in the strikes but is investigating.
It admitted on Wednesday to killing eight civilians during an air strike against militants in southwestern Afghanistan which an Afghan official said killed 12 people including nine women and a boy.
