No evidence to support US marines justifications for killing 5 Iraqi civilians

Source: CCTV.com | 01-08-2007 14:43

US criminal investigators say they have found no evidence to support justifications given by US Marines, for killing five unarmed Iraqi civilians. The Iraqis were shot after trying to flee the scene of a roadside bombing that killed one Marine and wounded two others last November.

The Marines claimed that the five were attempting to escape by car, and that they fit the profile of military-age men who, in the past, had acted as spotters for insurgents setting off roadside bombs. But investigators said members of an explosive ordnance disposal team that was summoned to the scene, scoured the car and found no weapons or evidence of bomb-making materials. Four of the five Iraqis were students, the other was a taxi driver taking them to school.

According to the NCIS investigation, the shooting of the men was the first in a series of violent responses by the Marines. The Marines subsequently raided four nearby houses, massacring 19 unarmed civilians. Among the dead were women and children.

Editor:Du Xiaodan