LONDON, 25 March 2006 — While the fate of Western hostages seized, killed — and sometimes freed — in Iraq attracts considerable media attention, the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians remain unsolved and shrouded in secrecy, British campaign groups charge.

Recent figures from the British campaign group Iraq Body Count put the minimum number of civilians killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion three years ago at between 33,710 and 37,832. Although many of those deaths were caused by insurgent attacks, multinational forces stationed in Iraq, ostensibly to protect the population, have been responsible for a significant number after the invasion, the organization of peace campaigners and academics said.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed during major offensives by US-led forces against insurgents in cities such as Fallujah, and many others have died after lethal force was used at military checkpoints.

Military commanders have said those killed were “collateral damage” or the unfortunate victims of “crossfire” between their troops and militants.

However, the recent announcement that US military investigators have flown to Iraq to study allegations that their troops deliberately shot dead at least 15 civilians in Anbar Province in November had cast doubt on such claims, the researchers said.

An initial military statement said the civilians, including seven women and three children, died in a roadside bomb that also killed a Marine in the western Iraqi town of Haditha.

Referring to the incident, Bobby Ghhosh, a journalist who followed the case for Time magazine, told the BBC: “Their bodies were riddled with bullets, there was evidence that there had been gunfire inside their homes, there were blood spatters inside their homes. “It was quite clear that these people were killed indoors, which couldn’t possibly have happened if they’d been involved in a roadside blast,” Ghosh said.

An initial military inquiry found the two families had indeed been shot dead in their homes by the Marines, but it described the deaths as “collateral damage.”

Specialist Michael Blake, a US Iraq veteran, told the BBC Newsnight Program that it was “common practice to shoot up the landscape or anything that moved” after an explosion.

Another veteran, Jody Casey, said he had also witnessed civilians being killed.

“Bombs go off and you just zap any farmer that’s close to you,” he said. “At that time, when we first got down there, you could basically kill anyone you wanted.”

Casey said he did not take part in any atrocities himself, but was advised to always carry a shovel. He could then plant this on any civilian victims to make it look as though they were digging roadside bombs.

The US and British governments say the fact the allegations are being investigated at all shows that progress has been made in Iraq.

Hilary Benn, Britain’s international development minister, welcomed the inquiry and said it was important that the perpetrators were being brought to justice. “The big difference between now and the 30 years that people endured under Saddam is that when things happened nobody was called to account, there was no due process,” he said.

Although human rights groups have also welcomed the launch of the inquiry, they are quick to point out that the multinational forces have investigated only a minority of the reports alleging the unlawful or deliberate killing of Iraqi civilians.

Nicole Choueiry, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International, told the BBC News website that those investigations which had taken place had often been inadequate and shrouded in secrecy.

The victims’ families were also often unaware of how to apply for compensation.

Choueiry believes an official body needs to be set up to ensure multinational troops fulfill their mission while abiding by international humanitarian and human rights law.

“Whether the investigations are civilian or led by the judiciary, the most important thing is for them to be independent, impartial and transparent,” she said.

But the effectiveness of such an organization would be severely restricted by an order originally issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority, and renewed by the Iraqi government in 2004, that grants foreign forces immunity from Iraqi criminal and civil law.

“The protection of the fourth Geneva Convention means nothing if the military does not investigate the crime”, said Phil Shiner, a British solicitor representing Iraqi families taking the British government to court over human rights violations.