Saturday, June 30, 2007

On Saturday, the US military announced the arrests of two American soldiers alleged to have been involved in three separate premeditated murders of Iraqi civilians, and the planting of weapons around the crime scene to pretend the victims were insurgents.

The incidents occurred over the past two months in Iskandariyah, 50 kilometres south of Baghdad. The investigation began when fellow soldiers in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment reported the alleged events to their superiors.

Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval, 22, was arrested Tuesday while on a 2-week leave at his family’s home in Laredo, Texas and charged with one count of premeditated murder and one count of placing a weapon on the victim.

Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, who comes from Candler, North Carolina, was arrested at a military base in Kuwait on Thursday and charged with three counts of premeditated murder, three counts of obstruction of justice and three counts of placing weapons around the victims.