US ‘shooting spree’ soldier flown out of Afghanistan
A soldier accused of shooting dead 16 Afghan civilians is flown to Kuwait following “legal recommendations”. The move comes amid a visit by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.
The Pentagon confirmed that the staff sergeant was taken out of Afghanistan “based on a legal recommendation”. Spokesman John Kirby said: “We do not have appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan.”
The serviceman was taken aboard a US military aircraft to a “pre-trial confinement facility”, a US military official said.
The move could cause discontent in Afghanistan, where revulsion against the killings has been widespread. Members of the Afghan parliament called for the soldier to be tried in an open court in Afghanistan following the killings.
However Mr Kirby insisted that the transfer did not neccessarily mean the trial would be held outside Afghanistan. The soldier, who has not been named, has not yet been charged.
Meanwhile, an Afghan civilian who emerged ablaze from a stolen vehicle as Mr Panetta was flying into the Camp Bastion airfieldin the country has died of his injuries.
Lieutenant-General Curtis Scaparotti, deputy commander of American forces in Afghanistan, said the man suffered severe burns.
He had apparently been carrying a container of fuel in the vehicle, which caught fire during a crash at the British airfield in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.
The driver had been heading towards a group of marines, he added.