Description

The Haditha massacre was a series of killings on November 19, 2005, in which a group of United States Marines killed 25 unarmed Iraqi civilians. The killings occurred in the city of Haditha in Iraq's western province of Al Anbar. Among the dead were men, women, elderly people and children as young as three years old, who were shot multiple times at close range. The massacre took place after an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded near a convoy, killing a lance corporal and severely injuring two other marines. In response the marines killed five men from a nearby taxicab and 19 others inside four nearby homes.