Haditha massacre — incident in which 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children were killed by a group of US Marines
A 2005 US Marine massacre of 25 Iraqi civilians led to prosecutions resulting in no prison sentences, prompting international calls for accountability.
Key Facts
- Civilians killed
- 25 unarmed Iraqi civilians
- Trigger
- IED explosion killing one US lance corporal
- Marines charged
- 8 marines from 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines
- Charges dropped
- 6 of 8 defendants had cases dropped
- Sole conviction
- Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, negligent dereliction of duty
- Conviction date
- January 24, 2012
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
On November 19, 2005, an improvised explosive device detonated near a US Marine convoy in Haditha, Al Anbar province, killing one lance corporal and wounding two others. In retaliation, a group of marines conducted killings in the immediate area rather than treating the attack as an isolated insurgent action.
US Marines killed 25 unarmed Iraqi civilians, shooting five men from a nearby taxicab and 19 others inside four neighboring homes. Victims included men, women, elderly individuals, and children as young as one year old, shot multiple times at close range. An initial Marine Corps communiqué falsely attributed civilian deaths to the IED blast and claimed eight insurgents were killed.
A Time magazine investigation prompted a military inquiry, leading to charges against eight marines, though six had cases dropped and one was acquitted. Wuterich, the only marine convicted, received a rank reduction and pay cut but no prison time. The outcome drew widespread outrage from Iraqis and international observers, with victims' representatives threatening to pursue the case in international courts.