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Four more US soldiers face Iraq rape charge
Tikrit: Four more US soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya, the military said on Sunday.
The five were accused on Saturday following an investigation into allegations that American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division raped the teenager and killed her and three relatives at her home south of Baghdad.
Ex-soldier Steven D Green was arrested last week in North Carolina and has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and four counts of murder. He was ordered held without bond on the charges, which carry a possible death penalty.
The US statement said the five soldiers still on active duty will face an Article 32 investigation, similar to a grand jury hearing in civilian law. The Article 32 proceeding will determine whether there is enough evidence to place them on trial.
One of the soldiers was charged with failing to report the attack but is not believed to have participated in it directly, the statement said. The four facing murder charges could face the death penalty if convicted.
The names of the five were not released, but a US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity said on Sunday that the soldiers recently charged are two sergeants, two privates first-class and one specialist. The March 12 attack on the family was among the worst in a series of cases of US troops accused of killing and abusing Iraqi civilians. AP
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