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.