Monday, June 5 2006 10:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Shedding more light on the controversial killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the city of Haditha last year, a budding journalist and human rights activist has said he saw US Marines heading towards four houses after a roadside explosion struck one of their vehicles.

Taher Thabet, who was at home when the massacre took place outside his residence on November 19, said he heard the sound of the explosion that killed humvee driver Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, a media report said.

Thabet claimed the blast shattered his windows and he then saw Marines from three other humvees springing from their vehicles and heading for four houses on either side of the road.

"They went into one house. I heard gunfire, explosions and screams," he told Time in an interview in Baghdad last month.

"Then they came out and went into another. I could only stand and watch, "he said.

The next morning, Thabet went into the houses where the killings had taken place and videotaped what he saw, as well as the scenes later at the local morgue.

"I didn't know what I was recording," he told the magazine.

"I just felt I had to record everything I could see," he said.

Having obtained the copy of Thabet's VCD, time said there was plenty in the grisly images to raise suspicions, including the US-issued body bags into which the victims were zipped and the scattering of shells that appeared to have come from Marine rifles.