WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- As many as 10 U.S. Marines may face charges relating the shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians last November, Time magazine reported Monday.
Time quoted an unidentified congressional source familiar with two Pentagon probes as saying the number includes those who opened fire in the farming town of Haditha on Nov. 19, and those who subsequently tried to cover up the incident.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has spent weeks conducting inquiries into the killings and their findings are expected within days.
The initial Marine report said a roadside bomb struck their convoy, killing one Marine lance corporal and 15 civilians.
However, villagers said the Marines went on a retaliatory door-to-door rampage afterward, shooting children and a man in a wheelchair. Autopsy reports said all 24 victims had bullet wounds to the head or chest.
