The U.S. military will charge seven Marines and a Navy corpsman with murder and other charges on Wednesday in the April 26 killing of an Iraqi civilian, a U.S. defense official said.
The charges include murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, making false official statements and larceny, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the charges have not yet been announced.
The incident took place in the town of Hamdania and is a separate case from the November 19 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha in which other Marines are suspected.
Military criminal investigators examined whether the servicemen fatally shot a 52-year-old disabled Iraqi man in the face, then planted a rifle and a shovel next to his body to make it appear he was an insurgent placing a roadside bomb.
The eight troops have been held in pretrial confinement at the Camp Pendleton prison in California since May 24. The Marines plan to hold a news conference at Camp Pendleton at 4 p.m. (1 p.m. PDT) to announce the charges.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, responsible for criminal cases involving Marine and Navy personnel, conducted the investigation of the incident.
The military said in a statement announcing the investigation last month that "local Iraqis" brought the incident to the attention of Marine leadership at a meeting on May 1.
Source: AP via Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060621/ts_nm/iraq_usa_marines_dc
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