GRAPHIC accounts of the apparent slaughter of unarmed civilians have been obtained by The Times as Washington braces itself for the results of an investigation into what threatens to be the most damaging military scandal in Iraq.

On Saturday Iman Hassan, a 10-year-old Iraqi girl, told The Times how she had watched US marines kill her mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, four-year-old cousin and two uncles.

Residents in the insurgent stronghold of al-Haditha have now stepped forward to corroborate elements of Iman’s story and to describe to The Times the murder of a second family, which included five children, the youngest of whom were two and three years old.

The events threaten to land a major blow to the US military’s reputation in Iraq.

An official investigation has already resulted in the removal of Lieutenant-Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, the commanding officer, and Captain Luke McConnell and Captain James Kimber, two company commanders, from their duties in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division.

Three marines are to face criminal charges, including homicide, while nine other marines may also face court martial, according to Pentagon sources.

Fallout from the inquiry, which is expected to be made public next month, is already being felt in Washington and the military establishment in Iraq. One US officer speaking anonymously in Iraq said what happened in al-Haditha was “clearly pretty awful”.

In Washington, Congressman John Murtha, a former Marine and a harsh critic of the war, said that the episode might prove to be America’s darkest hour in Iraq.

“This is the kind of war you have to win the hearts and minds of the people. And we’re set back every time something like this happens. This is worse than Abu Ghraib,” he told ABC television.

The trouble started when Marine Corporal Miguel Terrazas, 20, was killed by a roadside bomb on the morning of November 19 last year in alHaditha, where the US military and rebels have clashed regularly since the 2003 invasion.

What ensued is the subject of controversy. At the time the Marines said that 15 civilians were killed in the bombing along with Terrazas.

They later amended their story to say that the civilians had died during a gunbattle between troops and insurgents.

The case was reopened after a video made by a trainee Iraqi journalist was handed to Time magazine in January. The footage showed bloodstains, bullet holes and shrapnel marks inside Iman’s home and triggered a US Marine inquiry.

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