The White House on Tuesday promised to publicize every detail of the investigation of the alleged killing of two dozens of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines last November.

White House spokesman Tony Snow told a press briefing that the investigation is ongoing and he was assured by the Pentagon that all the details will be made available to the public once the probe is completed.

He said U.S. President George W. Bush first became aware of the incident when a Time magazine reporter asked about it earlier this year, prompting national security adviser Stephen Hadley to brief the president on it.

However, Snow refused to give Bush's personal comments on it.

The bloody killing was first revealed by Time magazine in March and more details have been coming out in many U.S. media reports since then.

According to the reports, the killings came after a roadside bomb rocked a U.S. military convoy and killed a Marine in the western Iraqi city of Haditha on Nov. 19 last year.

U.S. Marines then shot and killed five unarmed civilians in a taxi at the scene and went into three homes and shot dead 19 more civilians.

The incident led to comparisons from U.S. commentators of the March 16, 1968, killing of over 500 unarmed civilians by U.S. troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai.

U.S. military officials said last week that murder charges could eventually be brought against Marines for the bloody killings at Haditha.

However, they said it's still a month away before the conclusions could be made on the investigation.

Source: Xinhua