Probe says airstrike hit military target
Survivors: Group was at wedding
BAGHDAD -- The US military said yesterday an initial investigation of an air attack near the Syrian border last month hit a legitimate military target, despite assertions by Iraqi survivors and police who said it was a wedding party.
''Poststrike intelligence still leads us to conclude that that was a location that was a way station for a number of foreign fighters coming into the country," a senior US military official said on the condition of anonymity.
''We still believe that it was a significant intelligence target."
The May 19 attack killed more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The US military said the target was a suspected safe house for foreign fighters from Syria. Police and survivors said the victims had been attending a wedding.
Family members provided Associated Press Television News with video showing a bride in a Western-style wedding dress and people celebrating in a tent. The video did not show the actual attack.
A musician seen playing a keyboard was shown dead in another video made when the survivors brought bodies back to Ramadi for burial. The musician's family said he was killed in the airstrike.
US officials said they could not rule out that a party may have taken place but said that did not detract from their view that the area was used for subversive activities.
