US soldier cleared in Iraq killings

18/04/2007| IslamWeb

The US marines corps has dropped charges against a soldier accused of killing five civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha in 2005.

Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz of Chicago had faced charges of unpremeditated murder. The commanding general in the case has granted Dela Cruz immunity in exchange for his testimony, the marines said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement, released from their base in Camp Pendleton, California did not explain why the charges were dropped.

A Marines spokesman refused to elaborate when contacted by AFP news agency.

"We've said all we are going to say about it," he said.

Dela Cruz was one of four marines charged last year with killing civilians in Haditha, 260km west of Baghdad, in November 2005.

Prosecutors said that the marines went on a killing spree in the town, shooting unarmed men, women and children after a comrade, Miguel Terrazaz, was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol.

Four other marines - including 3rd Battalion Commander Jeffrey Chessani and Captain Lucas McConnell, neither of whom was in Haditha during the bloodshed - face charges of failing to properly investigate or report the killings.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi policemen wheel a wounded comrade into a hospital in Kirkuk north of Baghdad. (AFP)