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WASHINGTON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Marines were
accused of killing Hashim Ibrahim Awad al-Zobaie, a Iraqi civilian, on April 26
in a central Iraqi village, and all parties to the case agreed that he was shot
dead by American soldiers, The Washington Post reported Monday.
But there were differing accounts of his death and
they were at the heart of another investigation into the conduct of American
forces in Iraq, the report said.
Members of the Marine foot patrol under investigation
in the case said they came upon Hashim digging a hole for a bomb near his home
in Hamdaniyah, the Sunni Arab village of about 30 homes near Abu Ghraib, west of
Baghdad. The Marines said they killed Hashim in a brief gun battle and that they
found an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel by his side.
But according to accounts given by Hashim's neighbors
and members of his family, and apparently supported by photographs, the Marines
went to Hashim's home, took the 52-year-old disabled Iraqi outside and shot him
four times in the face, the report said.
The assault rifle and shovel next to his body had
been planted by the Marines, who had borrowed them from a villager, family
members and other residents were quoted as saying.
Hashim's family alleged this weekend that a small
group of U.S. servicemen came to them last week and offered the family money to
support the Marines' version of the killing, the report said.
The slaying of Hashim was the smaller and less
prominent of two incidents being investigated over allegations of wrongful death
and possible coverups by the U.S. military. The other investigation involved the
deaths of 24 Iraqis on Nov. 19 last year in the western town of Haditha.
Citing members of Hashim's family on Saturday, the
report said the disabled man's last hours began about 2 a.m. on April 26, when
members of a U.S. Marine foot patrol banged at the door of his one-story, walled
compound.
The Marines grabbed Hashim by the front of his cotton
robe as soon as he came to the door, pulling him from the house, said one of his
sons, Nasir, 26, an arts student in Baghdad.
"Less than an hour later, we heard shooting," Nasir
said.
The family eventually recovered their father's corpse
from a hospital at Abu Ghraib, he said.
Hashim's neighbor, Farhan Ahmed Hussein, told the
newspaper that the Marines had stopped at his house first that night and taken a
shovel and an AK-47 from his house before going to Hashim's. Iraqi and U.S.
military forces allow each Iraqi household to keep one weapon for protection.
After Hashim's killing, Hussein collected his shovel
and the rifle from Iraqi police, according to the report.
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