US soldier faces 17 counts of murder
WASHINGTON - The Associated Press
A U.S. soldier is expected to be charged with 17 counts of murder on Friday over the killings of mostly women and children in a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan.A U.S. official confirmed the murder charges on condition of anonymity and said Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, 38, would also be charged with six counts of assault and attempted murder. The charges were set to be read to Bales yesterday. The charges reflect a change earlier yesterday that increased the number of Afghans killed in the shooting spree from 16, which was widely reported for the past week, to 17, Associated Press reported. There was initial confusion about the number of dead, hampered to some degree by the fact that some may have been buried before U.S. military officials arrived at the scene of the carnage. Bales is being held in a military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and faces trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
