The Iraqi government will ask the United States for the investigative files into allegations that US Marines killed Iraqi civilians in Haditha last year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said today.
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 19 massacre in the town through the media.
"I hope it (the US investigation) 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, Maliki told reporters without elaborating: "Yes."
US defence officials have said murder charges may be brought against Marines following an investigation into the deaths of 24 civilians in Haditha, which some commentators are comparing to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
President George W Bush yesterday promised a thorough independent investigation.
Mr Maliki, who has said he is losing patience with reports of killings of Iraqi civilians, condemned the suspected massacre in Haditha as a "terrible crime" on Thursday.
US military spokesmen say three or four other cases involving allegations that US troops killed Iraqi civilians are under investigation.
In one of those probes, American military prosecutors were expected to charge seven Marines and a Navy corpsman in the death of an Iraqi civilian, a lawyer who represents two of the Americans said late yesterday.
Marine officials "told us charges would come Friday, but then let us know they probably will not release them until Monday," said attorney David Brahms.
The eight men are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton, California, in the April 26 killing of a Hamandiya man and a subsequent attempt to make him look like an insurgent by placing an AK-47 rifle near his body.
US investigators hope to exhume some of the bodies of Iraqis killed at Haditha, The Washington Postreported, citing unidentified US defence officials.
This could help determine the distance from which shots were fired, the calibre of the bullets and the angles of the shots.
