BAGHDAD, June 30 (UPI) --
Two U.S. soldiers were being held in Kuwait Saturday on charges they murdered three Iraqi civilians and planted weapons to cover up the alleged crimes. Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley and Spec. Jorge Sandoval were charged this week with premeditated murder and obstruction of justice in the slayings that allegedly occurred on three separate occasions in the Iraqi town of Iskandariya.
The alleged incidents occurred in April and June while the two soldiers were on duty with the 25th Infantry Division. CNN said the arrests stemmed from reports by other soldiers.
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On Saturday, the U.S. military said two American soldiers had been charged with premeditated murder for allegedly killing three Iraqis and then planting weapons on their bodies to portray them as combatants.
The three Iraqis were killed in separate incidents between April and June near Iskandariyah, 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Fellow U.S. soldiers reported the killings to the military authorities, the U.S. military said without giving further details on the killings or the victims.
One of the accused soldiers, Staff Sergeant Michael Hensley, was put in military confinement in Kuwait on Thursday, facing three counts each of premeditated murder, obstructing justice and "wrongfully placing weapons with the remains of deceased Iraqis," the statement said.
The other, Specialist Jorge Sandoval, was arrested Tuesday at his home in Laredo, Texas, and transferred to confinement in Kuwait.
Iraqis often accuse American soldiers of unnecessary killings or abuse, and U.S. service members involved in the war in Iraq have faced prosecution in several high-profile incidents, including abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, the killings of 24 civilians by marines in Haditha and the rape and killing of a 14-year-old girl and the slaying of her family south of Baghdad.
