US Official: Taliban Sought Wedding Party Deaths

Afghan men work on a house destroyed in alleged airstrikes in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar...

Afghan men work on a house destroyed in alleged airstrikes in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said airstrikes had caused deaths in the district. The U.S. military said it was investigating the report. (AP/Photo/Allauddin Khan)

(AP)

Taliban fighters held a wedding party captive and fired on U.S. forces in an attack designed to draw U.S. airstrikes on civilians and stoke anti-American sentiment, a U.S. official said Friday citing "firsthand" reports.

The official declined to give further details of the reported events leading to the U.S. bombing Monday in the southern Afghan village Wech Baghtu, where dozens of civilians and insurgents were killed.

But such a tactic by the Taliban could mean significant complications for U.S. forces and allies — forcing them to break off attacks and pursuit of extremists in populated areas for fear that the Taliban would try to maximum civilian casualties.

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan have become an increasing point of tension between Washington and President Hamid Karzai and could be one of the first major challenges for President-elect Barack Obama.

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Afghan officials said Friday a joint investigation found that 37 civilians and 26 insurgents were killed in Wech Baghtu, a village in Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold. The U.S. official said the inquiry found that 20 civilians died. It wasn't clear why the two sides offered differing numbers.

It is not the deadliest reported civilian death toll from a U.S. attack in Afghanistan in the last three months: An Afghan commission found that an August operation by U.S. forces killed 90 civilians in the village of Azizabad. A U.S. investigation concluded 33 civilians died.

Insurgents have always used populated areas for cover in conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the U.S. claim Friday represents the first detailed intelligence on an apparent Taliban strategy to bring innocent lives into the crossfire, the official told The Associated Press.

"We have firsthand knowledge that we know this was a deliberate act on the part of the Taliban to draw our forces into a fight and to cause civilian casualties, knowing that a wedding party was going on," the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the U.S. findings.