Two US soldiers have been charged with murdering an Iraqi last month near the northern oil city of Kirkuk, the military said today.
Sergeant Trey Corrales, from San Antonio, Texas, and Specialist Christopher Shore, from Winder, Georgia, were each charged with one count of premeditated murder, the military said in a statement.
The offence was alleged to have taken place on or around June 23rd near Kirkuk.
The men were assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
In addition, their battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Browder, while not a suspect in the case, was relieved of his duties because of a lack of confidence in his ability to command effectively, the military said.
The charges are the latest brought against US forces in Iraq. Yesterday, a military jury in California found a US Marine guilty of conspiring to kidnap and kill an Iraqi grandfather, who was shot dead last year.
Meanwhile, four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad last night, the US military said. The attack was on their patrol in the east of the capital, the military said in a statement.
US commanders have launched a major security clampdown in and around the capital targeting militants and have warned that casualties could rise as troops fan out into riskier neighbourhoods.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a total of 3,626 US military personnel have been killed, including 47 so far this month. The previous three months was the bloodiest quarter for American forces since the start of the war.