US probe of Ishaqi killings no surprise for Iraqis

ISHAQI, Iraq, June 4 (Reuters) Isa Khalaf doesn't want cash from the US troops he says massacred his relatives in a March raid. He wants an explanation he may never get now that a US probe has cleared them of any wrongdoing.

Standing in the rubble that remains of his brother's house that was pulverised in the small town of Ishaqi, Khalaf recalled the young children that were lost as the sound of gunfire and helicopters rattled the village.

''I don't want compensation. I want answers,'' he said.

The US investigation that cleared soldiers of any misconduct in Ishaqi may have allowed the soldiers to move on with their lives.

But the farming town will be haunted by memories of the bloodshed.

The US military said on Friday that soldiers chasing insurgents took direct fire in Ishaqi and up to nine collateral deaths, a military term for civilian casualties, resulted from an engagement.

It denied as ''absolutely false'' allegations that troops executed a family living in a safe house for ''terrorists'', and then hid the alleged crimes by directing an air strike.

US forces in Iraq have in the past paid compensation to civilian victims.

Police had different accounts of what happened during the March raid. They said five children, four women and two men were shot dead by troops in a house that was then blown up.

All the victims were shot in the head and the bodies, with hands bound, were dumped in one room before the house was destroyed, police added.

REUTERS SK PM1849