IRAQ: The Iraqi government will ask the US for the files of an inquiry into allegations that US Marines killed Iraqi civilians in Haditha last year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said yesterday.
Standing beside US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad during a visit to a new Baghdad power plant, Mr Maliki said he first heard of the alleged November 19th massacre through the media.
"I hope it [the US inquiry] will be fair for the sake of all the victims," said the Shia Islamist whose government of national unity was sworn in 13 days ago.
Asked if he would demand the files, Mr Maliki said: "Yes."
US defence officials have said murder charges may be brought against Marines following an inquiry into the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha, which some commentators compare to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
Mr Maliki, who has said he is losing patience with reports of killings of Iraqi civilians, condemned the suspected massacre as a "terrible crime" on Thursday.
The US military says it is investigating four other cases in which US troops are alleged to have killed Iraqi civilians. In one, the military prosecutors were expected to charge seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the death of an Iraqi civilian, said defence lawyer David Brahms, who represents two of the Americans.
The eight men are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton, California, in connection with the April 26th killing of a Hamandiya man and a later attempt to make him look like an insurgent by placing an AK-47 rifle near his body.
Asked if the US would hand over the Haditha files, Mr Khalilzad said a meeting on Haditha would be held with US commander in Iraq, Gen George Casey.
US House Speaker Dennis Hastert said in a news conference with Mr Maliki: "We are concerned that wrong was done. And if in fact evidence shows there was wrong done people will be punished and America will offer its deepest apologies." Mr Hastert is heading a visiting delegation.
Mr Khalilzad said an inquiry was still being conducted into a shooting involving US troops in Ishaqi, north of Baghdad, in March. Police have said six adults and five children were shot dead in a US raid on a home there. The military said two women and a child died during the arrest of an al-Qaeda militant. A senior Iraqi police officer said autopsies showed each had been shot in the head.