Battle of Haditha " Not to be confused with the 2007 film Battle for Haditha which portrays the Haditha killings . " The Battle of Haditha was a battle fought between U . S . forces and Ansar al - Sunna in early August 2005 on the outskirts of the town of Haditha , Iraq , which was one of the many towns that were under insurgent control in the Euphrates River valley during 2005 . On the first day of the battle , a six - man United States Marine Corps sniper unit in Haditha was attacked and overrun by a large insurgent force . All six men were found dead after the battle . Two days after the killings , Marine forces launched Operation Quick Strike to disrupt insurgent presence in the Haditha area . On the second day of that operation , a Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicle hit a large road side bomb , killing 15 out of the 16 on board . Marine snipers overrun . On the morning of August 1 , 2005 a six - man Marine sniper unit on the outskirts of Haditha was attacked by a large insurgent force from the Ansar al - Sunna group and in less than 10 minutes was overrun . Five members of the unit were killed . One was missing and was reported to have been seen alive but wounded and being driven through the streets of Haditha . A few days later a video of the attack was posted on the Internet on which insurgents were seen rushing the Marines . The group ’ s Web site posted still photographs showing a bloody , badly wounded body wearing Marine camouflage trousers and two hooded gunmen standing in front of several rifles . The insurgents said that they slit the throats of some of the Marines . Masked gunmen had shown up in the Haditha public market that afternoon displaying helmets , flak jackets and other equipment they said was taken from the bodies of the dead Marines . The bodies of five of the Marines were found in one place and the body of the sixth was discovered later a few miles away . Operation Quick Strike . Two days after the killings , around 1000 Marines from the Regimental Combat Team 2 ( RCT - 2 ) and Iraqi soldiers started " Operation Quick Strike " , which included efforts to find the insurgents responsible , however the primary intent was to interdict and disrupt militants ' presence in the Haditha , Haqliniyah , and Barwanah areas . The operation began when Marines and Iraqi soldiers moved into Haqliniyah , about seven kilometers southwest of Haditha . 40 insurgents were killed , including four in a Super Cobra helicopter attack . On the second day of the operation , a Marine amphibious assault vehicle , which was transporting Marines to the initial assault , hit a huge roadside bomb . The vehicle was completely destroyed and 15 out of the 16 people that were inside it were killed , with only one Marine surviving . The lone surviving Marine was a young man from Mississippi . Among the killed was also an Iraqi civilian interpreter . All but three of the Marines killed were assigned to 3rd Battalion , 25th Marines ( 3 / 25 ) . The Marines not assigned to 3 / 25 were assigned to 4th Amphibious Assault Battalion . The driver of the vehicle was ejected when the amphibious assault vehicle ( also known as amtracs , tracs , tractors etc . ) was thrown through the air . Though he did live he received severe burns on a majority of his body . Eleven of them were members of the battalion ' s Lima Company . The company had already lost twelve servicemen since the beginning of the war , including eight members in Operation Matador in May . In May , out of the 9 Marines killed and 40 wounded during Matador , five killed and nine wounded were from the same squad of Lima company . During 2005 , Lima Company was the workhorse of both RCT - 2 and 3 / 25 , participating in 15 regimental and battalion operations throughout their tour . The company saw combat from Hīt , Iraq in the east to Al - Qa ' im in the west . During Operation Matador , all members of one squad were killed or wounded in 96 hours of fighting . By the end of their deployment the Ohio Marine battalion lost 48 Marines and Sailors and another 150 wounded out of a complement of 1 , 350 Marines . Marines from second Marine Division Small Craft Company assisted in locating the bodies of the slain snipers and were engaged in a large fire fight on the east bank of the Euphrates River in the city of Haditha . Aftermath . On 1 August 2005 , Lima Company , 3 / 25 had detained two military age males in the home next to the site where the snipers had been killed and had found large quantities of blood in the house . Both these Iraqi males were flown to Al Asad Airbase for interrogation . In late August 2005 , Lima Company , 3 / 25 conducted a raid on the same house and detained seven Iraqi males . A large weapons cache of small arms and explosives was discovered buried behind the house . These Iraqi males were also transported to Al Asad Airbase where six of them subsequently confessed to the killing of the snipers . In September 2005 3rd Battalion 1st Marines surrounded the Haditha Triad ( Haditha , Barwanah , Haqlaniyah ) and assaulted Haditha . The city was proclaimed to be another Fallujah Battle , i . e . , heavy house to house fighting . The Marines of 3 / 1 took the entire city in four days without firing a shot . 3 / 1 would hold the entire Triad area of Haditha , Barwanah , and Haqlaniyah until March 2006 when 3 / 3 relieved them . During 3 / 1 ' s deployment , they found over 1 , 000 caches , detained over 400 known insurgents and lost four Marines during their entire deployment . In early 2006 , eight Iraqi men involved in the sniper incident were tried by an Iraqi court in Baghdad , found guilty , and executed . This raid is referenced in the A & E documentary " Combat Diary : The Marines of Lima Company " which premiered in May 2006 .