LOS ANGELES, June 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine officer was acquitted on Wednesday on charges he tried to cover up the shooting deaths of two dozen unarmed Iraqi men, women and children at Haditha in 2005.

In the first court-martial verdict from the high-profile case, Lt. Andrew Grayson was cleared by a military jury at Camp Pendleton, California. The jurors deliberated less than a day.

Grayson was not present when the 24 Iraqi civilians were shot near the scene of a roadside bombing at Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, but he was accused of ordering another Marine to delete pictures of the bodies from a computer and digital camera. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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