A US soldier faces charges of murder at a court martial in Iraq today.
Staff Sergeant Cardenas Alban is charged with murder under the US Uniformed Code of Military Justice in relation to the killing of a severely wounded Iraqi teenager in a Baghdad slum district during a Shia uprising last year.
He is the second US soldier to be court martialed over the incident.
Last month, Staff Sergeant Johnny Horne was sentenced to three years in jail, reduction in rank and dishonourable discharge from the military after pleading guilty to charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Another US military officer, 2nd Lt. Erick Anderson, has also been charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder over the incident.
The cases stem from an incident on August 18th when the three soldiers were part of a US Army patrol in the Shia Muslim Sadr City district during a period of clashes with fighters loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
US soldiers saw a group of Iraqi men in a garbage truck who they suspected were placing bombs along a road, and opened fire on them. Several Iraqis were killed.
Alban and Horne were accused of fatally shooting an Iraqi man who suffered severe abdominal wounds and burns after the initial barrage of gunfire. US military officials have described the incident as a "mercy killing".