"My heart is burning with anger," said Abdul Malik, whose father was killed in the attack on the Kakrak village, which bore the brunt of the assault. Malik’s family and friends had gathered in the village to celebrate his wedding. The house where the celebration was taking place, along with a number of other buildings, was subjected to the air bombardment. "The Americans should be put on trial," he said.

Some 200 people in the capital city of Kabul protested against the bombing raid July 4 . "We consider the Americans our liberators," one person said, "but after this, they may soon become our occupiers."

Afghan president Hamid Karzai called the commander of U.S. and allied forces in the country to his office to explain the deadly attack. The New York Times noted that the president "has previously accepted civilian casualties as a price to pay in the campaign against terrorism," but is now concerned that the attacks could help "turn the population against him and his American allies."

Foreign Minister Abdullah said that "civilians should not be killed" by U.S. forces. He reported that when the attack hit the wedding party, out of "a whole family of 25 people not a single person is left alive. This is the damage reflected by the operation of July 1."

Villages took reporters to buildings destroyed in the attack. Survivors said that two rockets hit the house where the wedding was being celebrated. Those who fled were hit from the air. "Everybody started running," said Ahmed Jan Agha. "The airplanes were shooting rockets at the people running away."

AC-130 gunships are fitted with Gatling guns, cannons, and 105 mm howitzers.

So far the Pentagon has refused to either accept responsibility for the attack or to explain the devastation. A spokesman for a military investigating team told the press that antiaircraft fire had come from the villages, although none of the gunships had been hit. The investigators said they were skeptical about the casualty reports. "There should be more blood," one said. "Where are the bodies?" One U.S. military official said the damage may have been caused by antiaircraft fire falling back down on the village. Despite this skepticism, U.S. military doctors confirmed they were treating about 20 civilians wounded in the assault, most of them children, at two hospitals in the regional center of Kandahar.  
 
 
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