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US: 2 SOLDIERS CHARGED IN DEATH OF AN IRAQ CIVILIAN June 26, 2006
Bonny Apunyu
(SomaliNet) Some two American soldiers have been charged with murder of an Iraqi civilian and an alleged attempt to cover up the killing, the U.S. military said Sunday, Los Angels Times reported Monday.
This is the latest scenario in which American troops are being accused of wrongly killing Iraqi civilians. There were other cases for instance the killings in November of 24 people, including women and children, in the town of Haditha.
US's Spc. Nathan B. Lynn was charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an unarmed Ramadi resident, Gani Ahmad Zaben, on Feb. 15, the military said.
Lynn and Sgt. Milton Ortiz Jr., both members of the 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry (Mechanized) of the Pennsylvania National Guard, were charged with one count each of obstructing justice for allegedly conspiring with another soldier to put an AK-47 near the dead man's body in an attempt to make it look as if he was an insurgent.
Meanwhile, Ortiz is charged with one count of communicating a threat during a separate incident March 8, in which he is accused of putting an unloaded firearm to the head of an Iraqi and threatening to send the man to prison for the rest of his life.
Altogether, The U.S. military is investigating at least three cases in which several American service members are suspected of killing civilians and detainees in Iraq, including the deaths in Haditha.
Owing to the accusations against the US troops, a lot of tension has amounted among the new Iraqi government. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and other political leaders have complained that killings of civilians by American troops have become a regular occurrence.
Currently, both soldiers in the latest case have been transferred to a military base in Baghdad.