The US has claimed that it makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties following the leaking of a video of a US helicopter strike in Baghdad three years ago, which killed two Reuters employees.
The gun camera footage, posted on the internet, includes audio conversations between Apache pilots and controllers in which they identify the men in a Baghdad street as armed insurgents and ask for permission to open fire.
A US defence official confirmed that the video and audio were authentic.
WikiLeaks said that it had obtained the video 'from a number of military whistleblowers' and decrypted it. It posted the video at collateralmurder.org.
The footage shows an aerial view of a number of men on a Baghdad street including two later identified as Reuters employees Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh.
The Apache pilots appear to mistake a camera carried by one of the Reuters employees as a rocket-propelled grenade launcher or RPG.
At one point, the Apache pilots tell controllers they have spotted 'five to six individuals with AK-47s' and ask for permission to 'engage.'
The Apache pilots open fire with the helicopter's cannon after which one says there are a 'bunch of bodies lying there.'
'Look at those dead bastards,' one says. Another replies: 'Nice.'
Shortly after the initial shooting, a van pulls up to pick up the dead and wounded and is fired upon by the Apaches. Two children in the van were injured and evacuated by US ground troops who arrived later on the scene.
A US military official did not dispute the authenticity of the video but said it 'doesn't give new information, it just gives footage.'
