A Marine Corps official was refusing comment this morning on a report that evidence collected on the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha last November supports accusations that members of a Camp Pendleton unit deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children.

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Agents of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have completed their initial work on the incident last November, but may be asked to probe further as Marine Corps and Navy prosecutors review the evidence and determine whether to recommend criminal charges, according to two Pentagon officials who discussed the matter with an Associated Press reporter on condition of anonymity.

The decision on whether to press criminal charges ultimately will be made by the commander of the accused Marines' parent unit, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. That currently is Lt. Gen. John Sattler, but he is scheduled to move to a Pentagon assignment soon; his successor will be Lt. Gen. James Mattis.

Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Marine Corps' spokesman on the Haditha and an unrelated case involving a different group of Pendleton Marines, said he would not comment on the report.

"I am not going to discuss an ongoing investigation," Gibson said from his office at Camp Pendleton.

The Haditha case involves a dozen or more members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and is one of several involving alleged unjustified killings of Iraqi civilians that have emerged this year, damaging the military's reputation for humane treatment of civilians and triggering calls by some Iraqi leaders to end the arrangement under which U.S. troops are immune from prosecution by Iraqi authorities.

The Marines initially reported after the Nov. 19, 2005 killings at Haditha that 15 Iraqi civilians had been killed by a makeshift roadside bomb and in crossfire between Marines and insurgent attackers. Based on accounts from survivors and human rights groups, Time magazine first reported in March that the killings were deliberate acts by the Marines.

A criminal investigation was then ordered by the top Marine commander in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer.

A parallel investigation is examining whether officers in the Marines' chain of command tried to cover up the events. The probe, which has not been made public, faults some officers for failing to pursue obvious discrepancies in the initial reports about what happened in Haditha and for not launching an early investigation.

Public attention on the Haditha case grew after Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former Marine, asserted publicly on May 17 that he had learned from Marine Corps officials that innocent Iraqis had been killed "in cold blood."

Lawyers for Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, one of the Marines under investigation, argue in a lawsuit filed today in federal court that Murtha falsely accused Wuterich of murder and war crimes. The suit maintains that Pentagon officials "who have briefed or leaked information to Mr. Murtha deliberately provided him with inaccurate and false information" and that the congressman subsequently "has made repeated statements …. that are defamatory" to Wuterich and his fellow Marines.

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Murtha's office issued a written statement this morning defending his comments.

"I don't blame the staff sergeant for lashing out. When I spoke up about Haditha, my intention was to draw attention to the horrendous pressure put on our troops in Iraq and to the cover-up of the incident," it read. "Our troops are caught in the middle of a tragic dilemma. The military trains them to fight a conventional war and use overwhelming force to protect U.S. lives. I agree with that policy, but when we use force, we often kill civilians. What are the consequences."

The other major case pending at Camp Pendleton are charges that seven Marines and a Navy corpsman from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment conspired to kidnap and kill an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania on April 26. Hearings to determine of those charges will stand are set to begin next month.

The troops in that case have been in the base bring since May 24. No one is in custody in the Haditha case.

A timeline of events surrounding the alleged massacre at Haditha, Iraq, based on a June 1 White House account and other details compiled by The Associated Press:

Nov. 19: A roadside bomb goes off at Haditha, killing a U.S. Marine from Camp Pendleton, Calif., and injuring two other members of his battalion. In the following hours, a number of Iraqis die. Subsequent press reports say the Iraqi death toll was 24. The military sends a team to investigate and document the scene.

Nov. 20: The Marines release a preliminary report saying 15 Iraqis had been killed by an IED, or improvised explosive device.

Feb. 14: Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of Multi-National Corps in Iraq, appoints an Army colonel to lead an investigation into the case.

March 10: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are notified of the case.

March 11: President Bush is told of the case for the first time by National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

March 12: Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, commanding general of the Multinational Force-West, appoints a Marine colonel to investigate reporting of information at all levels of the chain of command. Zilmer also requests a Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry.

June 5: An attorney representing a Navy corpsman being held in the Camp Pendleton brig in connection with the alleged killing issues a written statement calling for the news media and public to avoid a rush to judgment. He also announced a Web site defense fund has been established for his client.

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June 7: Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, says any Marine found to have violated standards of behavior will be held accountable.

June 10: The lawyer for a sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident says the unit followed military rules of engagement, did not intentionally target any civilians and did not try to cover up what it had done.

June 21: Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman are charged with premeditated murder, kidnapping and conspiracy and related charges.

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Aug. 2: Pentagon officials say evidence collected in the Haditha probe supports accusations that U.S. Marines deliberately shot the civilians, including unarmed women and children. Marine and Navy prosecutors will review the evidence and determine whether to recommend criminal charges.