Haditha killings said spread over 3 hours, work of small group of Marines

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http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/June/focusoniraq_June42.xml§ion=focusoniraq&col=

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A small group of US Marines alleged to have killed up to two dozen Iraqi civilians conducted a house-to-house hunt that stretched over three hours, while other Marines in Haditha did not intervene, according to an Iraqi human rights investigator.

The Associated Press interview of the activist is the most detailed account yet of Iraqi accusations that Marines went on a rampage after a comrade was killed by a bomb. Two separate US military investigations of the incident are under way.

Thaer al-Hadithi, a member and spokesman for the Hammurabi human rights association, a Sunni Muslim group, recounted with the help of a satellite map when and where Iraqi civilians cowered and sometimes died. snip

The officer, whose name al-Hadithi said he could not remember, also warned them that the next time a roadside bomb hits a Marine convoy in Haditha he would order an airstrike to level anything within 500 yards.