41 reported dead in US raid on Iraqi village

8.00am - By LUKE BAKER and ALASTAIR MacDONALD

BAGHDAD - An Arab media report says US warplanes killed at least 41 people in a village near the Syrian border.

Dubai-based Al Arabiya television quotes witnesses as saying US warplanes had bombarded the village of Makr al-Deeb while families were attending a wedding party.

In Baghdad, a US military spokesman said the report was being investigated.

Arabiya said casualties included women and children and showed pictures of several shrouded bodies lined up on a dirt road. Men were shown digging graves and lowering bodies, one of a child, into the pits while relatives wept.

"The US planes dropped more than 100 bombs on us," an unidentified man, who said he was from the village, told the television station.

"They hit two homes where the wedding was being held and then they levelled the whole village. No bullets were fired by us, nothing was happening," he said.

The United States, battling to stamp out guerrilla attacks in Iraq, says foreign fighters enter the country from Syria.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq