WASHINGTON, May 26 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November was expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians, The New York Times reported on Friday, quoting Congressional, military and Pentagon officials.

    Two lawyers involved in discussions about individual marines' defense said they thought the investigation could result in charges of murder, a capital offense, the report said.

    That possibility, and the emerging details of the killings have raised fears that the incident could be the gravest case to date involving misconduct by American ground forces in Iraq, according to the report.

    Citing officials briefed on preliminary results of the inquiry, the Times report said the civilians who had been killed at Haditha, a lawless, insurgent-plagued city deep in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, had not died from a makeshift bomb, as the military first reported, or in cross-fire between marines and attackers, as was later announced.

    A separate inquiry has begun to find whether the events were deliberately covered up.

    The report said evidence indicated that the civilians were killed during a sustained sweep by a small group of marines that lasted three to five hours. The action involved the shooting of five men standing near a taxi at a checkpoint, and the killing of other people including women and children inside at least two homes.

    The evidence suggested that the killings were "methodical in nature," the report said.

    The killings were first reported by the Time magazine in March, based on accounts from survivors and human rights groups.

    Revealing an indication of high-level concern, the commander of the Marine Corps, General Michael W. Hagee, flew from Washington to Iraq on Thursday to give a series of speeches to his forces, reemphasizing their need for compliance with international laws of armed conflict, the Geneva Convention and the American military's own rules of engagement. Enditem