ANKARA, Nov 25: A leading lawmaker from Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Thursday accused the United States of committing "genocide" in Fallujah.

Speaking before an extraordinary session of his commission, called to discuss the situation in Iraq, the deputy wondered whether US forces had not "used the atom bomb" there.

"They may have used this weapon," he said, "because we are told that hundreds of thousands of people have died in Iraq." "The US is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Iraq," the Anatoliaquoted Mehmet Elkatmis, who chairs the parliament's human rights commission, as saying.

Citing recent TV footage of a Marine gunning down what appeared to be a wounded, unarmed Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque, Mr Elkatmis said "genocide of such proportions was committed neither under Mussolini, nor Hitler".

Surveys regularly show that a majority of Turks are opposed to the US presence in Iraq. -AFP