Troops cleared in Ishaqi killings

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Investigators have determined U.S. soldiers followed proper procedure and will not face charges for the deaths of at least four Iraqis during a raid near the town of Ishaqi on March 15, Pentagon sources said Friday.

The death toll and the manner of the civilian deaths remains disputed. Iraqi officials say 11 people, including five children, were killed in the U.S.-led raid on a suspected al Qaeda in Iraq site about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Four women were listed among the dead and one of the children was 6 months old, the Iraqi officials said. (Watch why soldiers were found to be following procedures -- 1:14)

Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Friday that three civilians were killed along with an insurgent, whom he said was a bomb maker and recruiter. A man suspected of being a Kuwaiti-born al Qaeda cell leader was taken into coalition custody and questioned.

Other U.S. officials said Army soldiers conducting the raid near Balad came under fire and called in an airstrike that destroyed a building and killed the civilians.

Caldwell said investigators reported that up to "nine collateral deaths" may have occurred but that "a precise number could not be determined due to the collapsed walls and heavy debris."

Investigators from the Army Criminal Investigation Command concluded that the troops used appropriate force on a legitimate military target after coming under fire, the Pentagon sources said. (Watch bodies and bullets pulled from a ruined house -- 2:12)

A Balad police official said at the time of the raid that witnesses claimed U.S. troops had kept an entire family in a room before spraying them with bullets.

Caldwell said that account was "absolutely false."

"The ground forces commander, while capturing and killing terrorists, operated in accordance with the rules of engagement," Caldwell said.

The police official further said U.S. troops destroyed the building and killed livestock belonging to people in the house. In the house police found bullet casings of the type used by U.S. soldiers, the official said.

Haditha bodies

Friday's announcement clears U.S. troops in one of four incidents in which they are alleged to have intentionally killed innocent Iraqis, including women and children.

Other investigations are under way into an alleged massacre in Haditha and the death of an Iraqi civilian near Hamandiya, west of Baghdad, on April 26.

Also, the military is looking into reports that soldiers killed two women, one of whom was pregnant, in Samarra on Tuesday. Witnesses said the women were killed when their vehicle drove through a checkpoint.

Investigators in Haditha are hoping to exhume victims' bodies to look for forensic evidence that may explain how 24 Iraqi civilians were fatally shot on November 19, according to a senior U.S. military official with knowledge of the probe.

The families of the Haditha victims are refusing the exhumation request, contributing to a delay in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's investigation into the deaths, the military said Friday.

Sources said that military investigators strongly suspect that a small number of Marines snapped and went on a rampage after one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha, a city on the Euphrates River northwest of Baghdad.

Source: Murder charges likely

Military prosecutors "likely" will file murder charges against seven Marines accused in the April 26 shooting death of an Iraqi civilian in Hamandiya, a source familiar with the investigation said Thursday.

"Somewhere around seven Marines are likely to face charges," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because charges have not yet been filed. "Murder charges are likely," the source added but they may not come on Friday.

The Associated Press quoted a defense lawyer, Jeremiah Sullivan III, as saying that a Navy Corpsman is also expected to face charges, which include kidnapping and conspiracy.

The Iraqi civilian reportedly was dragged from his home and shot. Both the Los Angeles Times and NBC News said troops may have planted an AK-47 and shovel near the body to make it appear the man was an insurgent burying a roadside bomb.

Neither media outlet suggested a possible motive for the killing.

The eight men are being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in California, the AP quoted Sullivan as saying.

Training ordered

Amid the series of allegations involving troops, the U.S. military has ordered all coalition personnel to undergo refresher courses in ethics and values.

A military spokesman defended the two-to-four hour presentation on Friday, saying, "It's not a PowerPoint presentation per se. It's there as a guide. It's there as a tool.

"This is serious business, and we're going to focus on doing the right thing."

The spokesman, Brig. Gen. Donald Campbell, deputy commanding general of Multinational Corps-Iraq, said the training includes an introduction on "why this is a tremendous profession, and what we're doing, and then it leads through what we view (as) values."

Emphasizing repeatedly that 99.9 percent of U.S. troops in Iraq behave properly and ethically, he described factors that could lead to rare exceptions: "stress, fear, isolation, and in some cases they're just upset. They see their buddies getting blown up on occasion, and they could snap."

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