Evidence backs Iraq massacre claims

INVESTIGATORS were yesterday reported to have found evidence in February and March that cast doubt on US Marines’ initial claims that Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha were the victims of a roadside bomb.

The New York Times said a senior military official in Iraq said death certificates showed all those who died were shot.

The three-week probe, was the first official probe into the episode now alleged to have been a massacre in which 24 unarmed Iraqis including children were killed, the newspaper said.

The findings of the initial inquiry have not been made public, while the Pentagon is said to be close to ending its two separate inquiries into the killings and a subsequent alleged cover-up.

The US Marines initially attributed 15 civilian deaths in the November incident to a roadside bomb.

Meanwhile, the new Iraqi ambassador to the US claimed marines “intentionally” killed his cousin in a separate incident in a search months earlier in Haditha.

Samir al-Sumaidaie said: “I believe he was killed intentionally. I believe he was killed unnecessarily.”

US President George W Bush later made his first public comments on the allegations, vowing if laws had been broken, those responsible would be punished.