A spokesman for the U.S. Marines says an investigation is underway into a videotaped incident in a Fallujah mosque, in which pool television pictures broadcast Monday appear to show a Marine shooting and killing a wounded and apparently unarmed Iraqi prisoner.
The shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently were shot again by Marines inside the mosque.
CBS News articleThe shooting Saturday was videotaped by pool correspondent Kevin Sites, who said three other previously wounded prisoners in the mosque apparently were shot again by Marines inside the mosque.
The incident played out as the Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Regiment, returned to the unidentified Fallujah mosque Saturday. Sites was embedded with the unit.
So I guess we won't even be getting embedded reports any more.
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier as he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.
The Marine in the mosque videotape is reported to be in custody now as authorities investigate whether the shooting was self-defense or a criminal act.
The Marine in the mosque videotape is reported to be in custody now as authorities investigate whether the shooting was self-defense or a criminal act.
Extenuating circumstances. Self-defense.
The events on the videotape began as some of the Marines from the unit accompanied by Sites approached the mosque on Saturday, a day after it was stormed by other Marines.
Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and a fellow Marine shrugs.
Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.
The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According to his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing.
Gunfire can be heard from inside the mosque, and at its entrance, Marines who were already in the building emerge. They are asked by an approaching Marine lieutenant if there were insurgents inside and if the Marines had shot any of them. A Marine can be heard responding affirmatively. The lieutenant then asks if they were armed and a fellow Marine shrugs.
Sites' account said the wounded men, who he said were prisoners and who were hurt in the previous day's attack, had been shot again by the Marines on the Saturday visit.
The videotape showed two of the wounded men propped against the wall and Sites said they were bleeding to death. According to his report, a third wounded man appeared already dead, while a fourth was severely wounded but breathing.
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