Iraq: United States soldiers under investigation for rape and murder

By Kate Randall:

1 July 2006

A top US Army commander in Iraq has ordered an investigation into allegations of yet another atrocity committed by US soldiers in Iraq.

The case involves a particularly gruesome and sadistic episode, in which an Iraqi woman was allegedly stalked, raped and murdered.

Three other members of her family were killed, and the corpse of the violated woman was burned.

The revelation of these killings follows a string of exposures in recent weeks of execution-style murders and other violent crimes against Iraqi civilians by US troops.

The latest investigation involves an incident that occurred on March 12 in the market town of Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.

The Associated Press reported that the incident involved five soldiers from a unit of the 502nd Infantry Regiment, which is attached to the Fourth Infantry Division.

See also here.

And here.

And here.

US soldiers kill pregnant woman: here.

Haditha update: here.

And here.