Four Germany-based US soldiers charged with pre-meditated killing of Iraqi prisoners

30 June 2008

Berlin-Four Germany-based US soldiers are accused of killing an unidentified number of Iraqi detainees in cold blood last year, the European edition of the American military daily Stars and Stripes reported Wednesday.

The four GIs who are scheduled to stand trial in the south German town of Vilseck on August 26, are charged with committing premeditated murder in Iraq after taking male prisoners to a canal where they shot them.

The alleged crime occurred while the soldiers who were part of the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment and the "2nd Dagger" Brigade near Baghdad between March 10 and April 16, 2007, according to the US army.

The US military has not revealed how many Iraqi men were murdered but did announce last January that that more than one prisoner died.

The accused US troops are now assigned to other military units and are not in pre-trial detention, American military officials were quoted saying.

The apparent murder of the Iraqi detainees was first announced in a news release posted on the US army's official website back in January.