U.S. soldier may face death penalty for Afghan shootings

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghans could be executed if convicted, the Pentagon chief said, as President Barack Obama warned a war-weary public against a rushed exit from Afghanistan.

According to AFP, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters aboard his plane en route to Kyrgyzstan that the shooting suspect would be brought to justice under the U.S. military legal code, which allows for the death penalty in some cases.

The U.S. army sergeant, who was on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan after serving three tours in Iraq, left his base in Kandahar province before dawn Sunday, March 11 and went on a murderous rampage, Afghan and U.S. officials say.

He is accused of breaking into village homes and opening fire, killing 16 people including women and children, in an incident that has imperilled Afghan-U.S. relations anew after the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has described the shootings as "unforgivable," and the Afghan parliament declared that "people are running out of patience" over the behavior of the 130,000 U.S.-led NATO troops deployed in the country.

The Taliban, leading a 10-year insurgency against the foreign troops and Karzai's government, threatened to take revenge against "sick-minded American savages."

The parliament on Monday demanded that U.S. officials "punish the culprits and try them in a public trial before the people of Afghanistan," then closed for the day in protest.

The massacre is the latest serious test of the U.S.-Afghan alliance as the two countries pursue difficult talks on securing a strategic pact to govern their partnership once foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan in 2014.