WASHINGTON, June 7: Senators said on Tuesday that the Bush administration swiftly establish what happened in Haditha last November, when US Marines are suspected of killing 24 unarmed Iraqis.

They said only swift action could salvage the image of the military and US international relations.

The Senate Armed Services Committee plans hearings soon on last November’s incident in the western Iraqi town and to determine whether the military tried to cover it up.

One senator, from President George Bush’s own Republican party, insisted Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be brought to account.

The senator, Susan Collins from Maine, said the committee must ‘ask hard questions such as, “When did Secretary Rumsfeld learn of the allegations?” and “What action did he take?”’

The senators spoke on the same day a senior US State Department official brushed aside criticism from Iraq’s prime minister over the Haditha incident.

“It’s a defence mechanism ... I wouldn’t make too much out of it,” James Jeffrey, the State Department’s Iraq coordinator, said of the criticism from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

He said he believed US forces were well-respected in Iraq and Mr Maliki’s outburst was to be expected.—AFP