Helicopter attack kills at least 40, including children

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

A U.S. aircraft fired on a house in the desert near the Syrian border today, and Iraqi officials said more than 40 people were killed, including children. The U.S. military said the target was a suspected safehouse for foreign fighters from Syria, but Iraqis said a helicopter had attacked a wedding party.

Associated Press Television News footage showed a truck containing bloodied bodies, many wrapped in blankets, piled one atop the other. Several were children, one of whom was decapitated. The body of a girl who appeared to be less than 5 years of age lay in a white sheet, her legs riddled with wounds and her dress soaked in blood.

The attack happened about 2:45 a.m. in a desert region near the border with Syria and Jordan, according to Lt. Col. Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, the provincial capital about 250 miles to the east. He said 42 to 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.

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What a great idea! Kill lots of civilians while putting down the Fallujah uprising, torture and sexually humiliate lots of POWs at Abu Ghraib, and then massacre forty more civilians at a wedding party! We'll win their hearts and minds yet!

Victory!

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