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What are you suggesting, that they planted the IED knowing the marines were going to shoot up two households?
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The source link is poorly written, but explains: This was an operation planned by al Qaeda to discredit the Marines.
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During the November Haditha battle, the insurgents secreted themselves among local civilians to guarantee pursuing Marines would catch innocent civilians in the ensuing crossfire.
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Why they think this? First, an informant said so:
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The report – apparently overlooked by a Washington press corps awash in leaked Bargewell documents and secret Naval Criminal Investigative Service reports – shows that Marine Corps intelligence operatives were advised of the scheme to demonize the Marines by an informant named Muhannad Hassan Hamadi.
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Secondly, they had intel revealing...
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...that the al Qaeda fighters planned to videotape the attacks and exploit the resulting carnage for propaganda purposes.
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Which is why Time Magazine's McGirk had photos... which were purported to be from Human Rights Watch, but turned out to be from insurgents who were under observation from the Marines.
Hey, take the report as a data point. But consider. Insurgents have been revealed to have been "stringers" for the AP and other media, feeding photos that are beneficial to their version of the facts. This is part of the Al Queda strengths, understanding western media and how to exploit it.