Sun, May 28, 2006 - Page 7 News List

Evidence suggests Marines murdered civilians

BLOODBATH A senior US defense official said that an investigation into the deaths of Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November indicates that the killings could not be justified

AP , WASHINGTON

Hagee met top lawmakers from those panels this week to update them on the investigation.

"I can say that there are established facts that incidents of a very serious nature did take place," Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate panel, said on Thursday. He would not provide details or confirm reports that about 24 civilians were killed. He told reporters he had "no basis to believe" the military engaged in a cover-up.

Separately, the Marines announced this week that a criminal investigation was under way in connection with an alleged killing on April 26 of an Iraqi civilian by Marines in Hamandiyah, west of Baghdad. No details about that case have been made public.

In the Haditha case, videotape aired by an Arab television station showed images purportedly taken in the aftermath of the encounter: a bloody bedroom floor, walls with bullet holes and bodies of women and children.

An Iraqi human rights group called for an investigation of what it described as a deadly mistake that had harmed civilians.

On May 17, Congressman John Murtha, a former Marine, said Corps officials told him the toll in the Haditha attack was far worse than originally reported and that US troops killed innocent women and children "in cold blood."

He said that nearly twice as many people were killed as first reported and maintained that US forces were "overstretched and overstressed" by the war in Iraq.

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