BAGHDAD (Reuters):

A PROBE into whether United States Marines lied about the killing of up to 24 Iraqis in the city of Haditha last year is complete and a top commander is reviewing its findings, the U.S. military said on Friday.

Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, head of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, received the findings of the investigation and would either approve them, add his own conclusions or request more information from the investigating officer.

A separate Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe into the role of marines in the killings of civilians in Haditha last November could lead to charges including murder.

Major General Eldon Bargewell led the fact-finding team looking at not only whether marines involved in the November 19 incident lied about what happened, but whether senior Marine Corps officers sufficiently examined the veracity of the troops' account.

EXAMINING POTENTIAL CRIMINAL OFFENCES

"While the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was requested to and is examining potential criminal offences arising from the incident, Major General Bargewell was tasked to examine official reporting and communication flow surrounding the operations, type of training the forces received prior to and after their arrival in theatre, and command climate within the unit," said the U.S. military statement.

Defence officials previously have said a preliminary military probe conducted in February and March found evidence that the marines involved in the incident gave a false account of what happened.

A day after the Haditha incident last November, the U.S. military said a roadside bomb killed a Marine and 15 civilians and that Iraqi Army soldiers and U.S. Marines opened fire, killing eight insurgents.

Witnesses have said marines opened fire on Iraqi civilians, killing 24 men, women and children in three homes and a car in retaliation for the death of their comrade.

The Haditha case, which has drawn comparisons with the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, has eroded popular support for the Iraq war in the United States.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has come under mounting pressure to deliver on promises of delivering justice to Iraqis resentful of the American presence, has said he would ask Washington for a copy of the Haditha investigation.