Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has criticized the US military for what he described as habitual attacks against civilians.

His comments came as his government launched an investigation into an alleged massacre by US marines of up to 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha.

Mr Maliki told reporters violence against civilians was "common among many of the multinational forces".

He said many troops had "no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars and killing on a suspicion or a hunch".

Mr Maliki said on Friday he would ask the US for the investigative files into the Haditha incident, which took place last November.

New claims

The US military has also told the BBC that it is investigating new claims that 11 civilians may have been deliberately killed by US troops in the town of Ishaqi in March.

Video footage obtained by the BBC appears to challenge the US account of the events in Ishaqi, about 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

The US said at the time that four people died during a raid, but Iraqi police said 11 were shot by US troops.

The US authorities said they were involved in a firefight after a tip-off that an al-Qaeda supporter was visiting the house.

According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire killing four people - a suspect, two women and a child.

But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

Ethical training

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that experts with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) hoped to exhume the bodies of several Haditha victims in search of evidence.

US troops are suspected of covering up the deaths.

The forensic evidence was disregarded at first because the 19 November deaths were reported as caused by a roadside bomb and not treated as crimes.

In the wake of the Haditha allegations, the US army on Thursday announced that coalition troops in Iraq are to have training on ethics. The BBC's Ian Pannell in Baghdad says the move is likely to be greeted with cynicism by many Iraqis, as the troops have long been accused of deliberately targeting civilians.

On Friday, the brother of a pregnant woman who says she was shot dead at a US checkpoint in Iraq told the AFP news agency that he would file a complaint against US forces.

The pregnant woman and a relative were shot dead by US forces as they rushed to hospital along a closed road, police and relatives say.

US forces said their car "entered a clearly marked prohibited area near coalition troops" in Samarra and failed to heed warnings to stop.

The brother, who was driving the car and was injured, said he had not seen or heard any warnings.

Photo Caption

Bodies of Haditha victims