US launches probe into claims of civilian massacre by marines

THE US military has launched an investigation into claims that American forces shot dead 15 members of two families, including a three year-old-girl, shortly after a roadside bomb killed a US marine in a western Iraqi town.

The story of the incident, told to the Associated Press news agency by residents, was largely forgotten until last week when the military said it was investigating potential misconduct by marines after a rebel attack in the town of Haditha, 140 miles north west of Baghdad, on November 19 last.

The allegations against the marines were first brought forward by Time Magazine, which said it obtained a videotape two months ago taken by a Haditha journalism student inside the houses and local mortuary.

A news release accompanying Time’s account of events in its edition yesterday mirrored what was told independently to AP by residents who described what happened as “a massacre”.

Khaled Ahmed Rsayef, whose brother and six other members of his family were killed in the incident, said the roadside bomb exploded at about 7.15am in al-Subhani neighbourhood, heavily damaging a US Humvee.

At the time, a US military statement described it as an ambush on a joint US-Iraqi patrol that left 15 civilians, eight militants and a US marine dead in the bombing and subsequent firefight. The statement said the 15 civilians were killed by the blast, a claim the residents denied.

They said the only shooting done after the bomb exploded was by US forces.

“American troops immediately cordoned the area and raided two nearby houses, shooting at everyone inside,” said Rsayef. “It was a massacre in every sense of the word.”

Rsayef and another resident, former city councillor Imad Jawad Hamza, said the first house to be stormed was that of Abdul-Hamid Hassan Ali, which was very close to the scene of the bomb attack.

Ali, 76, died instantly after being shot in the stomach and chest. His wife, Khamisa, 66, was shot in the back. Ali’s son Jahid, 43, was hit in the head and chest. Son Walid, 37, was burned to death after a grenade was thrown into his room, and a third son, 28-year-old Rashid, died after he was shot in the head and chest.

Also among the dead were Walid’s wife, Asma, 32, and his son Abdullah, four, both Rsayef and Hamza said.

Rsayef said those killed in the second house were his brother Younis, 43; the brother’s wife Aida, 40, and their son Mohammed.

Also killed were the brother’s daughters Nour, 14; Seba, 10; Zeinab, five, and Aisha, 3. A relative who was visiting, Hoda Yassin, was also killed, they said.

The troops then shot dead four brothers walking in the street. US troops also shot dead five men in a car near the scene, Hamza and Rsayef said.