US Military expected to announce Haditha charges

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif, Dec 21 (Reuters) The US military was expected to announce charges today against a group of Marines in the killing of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq, following an investigation into what Iraqi witnesses say was a massacre.

A Marine colonel has scheduled a press briefing for 1300 hrs (0230 hrs IST) at Camp Pendleton, California, to discuss the case, and sources say he will announce charges, possibly including murder, against at least five Marines.

The November 19, 2005, shooting of two dozen unarmed men, women and children in the western Iraqi town is one of a series of cases in which the US service members have been accused, and in some cases convicted, of involvement in killing civilians.

Few details have been made public about the charges, although a US military investigation centered on a squad of Marines lead by Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich. Wuterich sued Democratic Rep John Murtha in August after he said the US troops ''killed innocent civilians in cold blood.'' Capt Lucas McConnell, who was monitoring fighting in and around Haditha on the day of the incident, was also expecting to face charges, his attorney has told Reuters. McConnell was not present for the shooting but may be accused of dereliction of duty for his reports on the incident.

Once charged, the defendants are entitled to an Article 32 hearing, in which a military judge would decide if there is enough evidence to convene a court martial.

Iraqi witnesses say the Marines shot civilians in their homes to retaliate for the death of their comrade, Lance Cpl Miguel Terrazas, who was ripped in half by a roadside bomb that exploded under a convoy rolling through Haditha, some 96 km north of Baghdad.

Defense lawyers dispute that version of events and say the men from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division were engaged in a furious battle in Haditha after the bomb exploded and the civilians may have died during the chaos.

Two probes were launched into Haditha, one centering on the shooting and another into the Marines' procedures afterward.

Earlier this year, the US President George W Bush vowed that any the US Marine guilty of shooting Iraqi civilians would be punished. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called the Haditha killings a ''terrible crime.'' REUTERS DKA DS1135