Three separate groups of U.S. military personnel visited the scene of a shooting that killed 24 apparently innocent Iraqi civilians never reported it up the chain of command, according to an Army general's new report.
A Navy bomb squad, a Marine intelligence team, and a Marine foot patrol failed to properly report the killing of civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, according to the findings of Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, which he has submitted to the U.S. commander in Iraq.
In the initial incident, a squad of Marines shot and killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including 11 women and children. Most were shot inside four houses. Five Iraqi males were shot after they got out of a taxi cab.
An ongoing criminal investigation seeks to determine whether the squad members fired in self defense, as they claim, or if they took part in a massacre.
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