IRAQ: Seven US marines and a navy corpsman have been charged with the kidnapping and premeditated murder of an Iraqi civilian last April, charges that could carry the death penalty.
Military prosecutors say the eight men dragged Hashim Ibrahim Awad (52) out of his house in Hamdania on April 26th, bound his hands and feet and shot him without provocation.
The defendants are also accused of trying to cover up the murder by claiming they had caught the man trying to set a roadside bomb.
They allegedly planted an AK-47 rifle and a shovel near his body to create the impression he had been an insurgent.
"The Marine Corps takes allegations of wrongdoing by marines very seriously and is committed to thoroughly investigating such allegations," said Col Stewart Navarre, announcing the charges.
"The Marine Corps also prides itself on holding its members accountable for their actions."
According to the charging document, the eight were in a hide- out staking out an intersection to see if anyone appeared to place explosives in holes that had been dug along the road.
When no one came, four of the marines went into a nearby home, stole a shovel and an AK-47 and went looking for an insurgent named Saleh Gowad.
When they could not find Mr Gowad, they went into a house belonging to Mr Awad and kidnapped him, prosecutors claim.
The marines forced Mr Awad to the ground and bound his feet, then took him to their hide-out and placed him in a hole before shooting him dead, the report says.
Earlier this week, the army charged four soldiers with murder for allegedly killing three Iraqi civilians who had been rounded up during a sweep of a suspected insurgent hide-out north of Baghdad on May 9th.
Military investigators are also looking into allegations that marines may have shot dead as many as 24 Iraqi civilians - including women and children - in the town of Haditha last November after a member of their patrol was killed in a roadside bombing.
A state department spokesman said the murder charges announced this week showed that the US took seriously any allegations of war crimes by its troops.
"We've made clear that these acts are aberrant, that they are to be condemned, that they do not represent us . . . and that we do everything in our power to prevent them from taking place and to take corrective action when they do take place," he said.