US Military 'Shooting of Injured Man' Caught on TV

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3762718

spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Maj. Doug Powell, said the incident was "being investigated." He had no further details, other than to confirm the incident happened on Saturday and that the Marines involved were part of the 1st Marine Division.

NBC used pixelation to cover parts of the video that could lead to public identification of the Marines involved.

NBC's Robert Padavick told members of the U.S. television pool that NBC had agreed to a Pentagon request that the Marines identity be hidden because "they (the military authorities) are anticipating a criminal investigation, and as a result do not want to implicate anybody ahead of that."

In New York, NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network did not broadcast the prisoner being shot because of the "graphic nature" of the video.

The full shooting video was provided to other members of the U.S. television pool.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=255110

The US military is looking into whether an American marine in Falluja shot dead a severely wounded Iraqi insurgent at point-blank range.

Television footage shows US soldiers entering a building as injured prisoners lie on the floor.

The soldier, from the 3rd battalion of the US marines, has been removed from the field and faces possible charges.

The images were taken by an NBC reporter embedded with the US troops in the Sunni city under assault.

The BBC's James Robbins says the incident could prove highly damaging and that the US military will need to answer key questions about whether the rules of engagement were broken during the incident.

It must explain, he says, whether wounded combatants were abandoned, or killed, illegally.

Mosque stormed

US marines have been battling with sporadic but fierce pockets of resistance inside the city. They say they have already killed 1,200 insurgents.

The images show a group of marines, armed with rifles, entering a building near a mosque.

The mosque had been used by insurgents to attack US forces, who had stormed it, killing 10 militants and wounding five.

At least three severely wounded men are seen in a room inside the building - two are slumped against one of the walls, partially covered with a blanket.

The NBC's Kevin Sites says the wounded men had been left in the mosque after marines had fought their way in on Friday and Saturday.

According to Mr Sites, one of the soldiers points his rifle at the head of one of the injured, an old man. The sound of a shot is then heard.

There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon on the report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4014901.stm

FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military is investigating whether a Marine shot dead an unarmed, wounded insurgent during the battle for Falluja in an incident captured on videotape by a pool reporter.

The man was shot in the head at close range Saturday by a Marine who found him among a group of wounded men. The wounded men were found in a mosque that Marines said had been the source of small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire the previous day.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/15/marine.probe/index.html