Villagers Describe a Night of Terror

Villagers who survived a raid Monday by U.S. aircraft said a plane suddenly blasted away at them as they were celebrating an upcoming wedding in the predawn coolness, dancing and singing in a pool of light from a tractor’s headlights.

The villagers in this narrow valley told Wednesday of running for their lives through fields as a U.S. aircraft appeared to chase them, firing bullets. Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah said 44 people were killed and 120 wounded in Monday’s raid on half a dozen villages in Oruzgan province.

The Pentagon said it has confirmed that 21 people were wounded, including 17 Afghans being treated at a hospital in Kandahar and four others at the U.S. airbase in Bagram.

Maj. Gary Tallman, a spokesman with a joint U.S.-Afghan investigating commission, said an antiaircraft artillery piece was firing on the U.S. plane from the walled compound where the party was held.

Tallman said U.S. aircraft had flown over the area hourly for two days before Monday’s attack, and each time the antiaircraft gun opened fire. But Tallman acknowledged Wednesday that investigators had found no wreckage of the gun. Villagers said 25 of the dead were attending the 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 fiancee was present. Sherif was killed.

At the front door of Sherif’s compound, 40 pairs of shoes sat awaiting their owners. Nearby was a pile of women’s clothing. A small boy stood weeping in front of it.

“My heart is burning with anger,” said Abdul Malik. “The Americans should be put on trial.”

Coalition forces found an arms cache 10 miles away containing 15 tons of munitions, including antiaircraft weapons, an official said.

The Times’ Washington Bureau contributed to this report.