More Us Troops Charged With Iraqi Girl's Rape and Murder

Four more soldiers have been charged with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family, the most explosive of the five war crimes investigations currently under way in Iraq.

A fifth soldier was charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the events of the night of March 12 when a group of soldiers are alleged to have abandoned their checkpoint to enter the home of an Iraqi family in the town of Mahmudiya. They allegedly raped and killed a young woman inside the house, and shot dead her parents and young sister.

In recent weeks, 16 soldiers have been charged with murders in Iraq - more than during the first three years of the war. No Marines have been charged so far in the worst alleged atrocity, the killing of 24 Iraqis at Haditha, but that has been overshadowed by the Mahmudiya episode.

Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has demanded an independent investigation into the alleged rape and killings, and said the immunity granted to US troops in Iraq has encouraged abuse. Sensitivities in the case deepened yesterday as Reuters news agency reported that the rape victim was only 14 years old.

Stephen Green, a former member of the 502nd infantry regiment, was charged last week in a US court with rape and murder. Mr Green, a former private, was granted an honourable discharge from the military for a personality disorder before the alleged rape and murder came to light. In an FBI affidavit, Mr Green and two other soldiers are accused of stalking the rape victim, identified by hospital authorities as Abeer Qassim Hamza.

On the night of March 12, Green and the other unnamed soldiers are alleged to have left their post, drunk alcohol and changed into dark clothing, and entered the victims' home.

Green is alleged to have shepherded the victim's parents, and her sister, who may have been as young as five, into a room, where each was shot in the head. The soldiers are then alleged to have tried to set fire to the bodies.