Pentagon chief hits back over leaked attack video

Gates, who said on Sunday that the video was painful to see, said today there was no context explaining the situation. "These people can put out anything they want, and they're never held accountable for it. There's no before and there's no after."

The Reuters people killed in the attack were photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40.

Images in the US Army Apache helicopter gunsight video of the 12 July 2007 attack and recorded crew conversation have caused shock since its release on 5 April. Some international law and human rights experts say the crew may have acted illegally.

The US military said an investigation shortly after the incident found American forces were unaware of the presence of news staff and thought they were engaging armed insurgents, mistaking a camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

Referring to civilian casualties, Gates said "We take these things seriously".

WikiLeaks promotes leaks to fight government and corporate corruption. It said it obtained the encrypted video from military whistleblowers.

The website disputed Gates' contention the video failed to provide context. In an e-mail, it accused the US military of making "numerous false or misleading statements," including the contention there was an active firefight between US forces and those killed.

"Classified records which we will shortly release show that there was a report of small arms fire at 9:50 a.m., somewhere in the suburb of New Baghdad, shooter and location UNIDENTIFIED. There is no reference to U.S. forces having been hit by the fire. The same records report that at 10:18, 28 minutes later, the crowd was seen and the killing commenced." ■