Iraq: A US air strike aimed at foreign militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed 11 people and wounded 17 after a wedding party in Falluja yesterday.
Rescuers dug bodies from rubble with their hands after the raid on a house where residents said a wedding party had just been held.
They said the groom died and the bride was wounded.
At the local hospital, where blood pooled on the floor, Dr Khaled Nasser said nine females, aged between five and 50, were among the wounded. Television footage showed four women lying bloodied and bandaged in the hospital.
"We were celebrating my cousin's wedding and my relatives gathered in this house for the wedding," said Mr Suad Mohammed (26), who was wounded in the legs and chest.
"The wedding ended at 10 p.m., but some people gathered outside the house and the bombing began. I lost consciousness and this morning I knew I was in hospital," he said.
The US military said a "precision strike" hit a safe house being used by associates of the Jordanian militant Zarqawi in northwest Falluja at 1:15 a.m. local time on Thursday.
Repeated US air strikes on Falluja have coincided with efforts by Iraq's interim government to arrange the return of its security forces to the rebel-held city and other trouble spots ahead of a January deadline for nationwide elections.
The government welcomed an offer by a Shia militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr to disarm, and indicated willingness to meet at least some of the fiery cleric's demands in any deal.
"The government welcomes the announcement by al-Sadr that his militia will disband, hand over their weapons, respect the authority and the unity of the state and abide by the rule of law in Iraq," said a statement issued in the name of Mr Kassim Daoud, Iraq's national security adviser and chief negotiator.
The government promised to honour an amnesty offer for "those who have not committed crimes against the Iraqi people".
The government could also pay to repair damage caused by nightly clashes in recent weeks between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and US forces in Baghdad's Sadr City slum district.
Daoud's statement followed a disarmament offer made by al-Sadr's top aide in a televised address on Thursday. - (Reuters)