It was not clear if those nine men were involved in the attack as the military statement said.
According to the US Defense Department, the Marine killed near Haditha that day was Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, 20. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Walid al-Hadithi, chief physician at Haditha General Hospital, said that about midnight the day of the attack, two US humvees arrived at the hospital -- one carrying the bodies of the men and the other those of women and children.
"They told me the women and children were shot in their homes, and they added that the men were saboteurs," al-Hadithi said. He said he was given a total of 24 bodies. "All had bullet wounds."
Time said the available evidence did not provide conclusive proof that the Marines deliberately killed innocent civilians. The magazine, however, said its investigation showed that walls and ceilings in both houses were pockmarked with shrapnel and bullet holes as well as the telltale sprays of blood.
The video did not show any bullet holes on the outside of the houses to support the military claim the Marines had engaged in a gunbattle with alleged insurgents before storming the buildings.
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