US troops accused of killing Iraqi detainees refuse to testify

[Barrett808]

TIKRIT, Iraq (AFP) - Four US soldiers accused of killing three Iraqi prisoners refused to give evidence as a military hearing heard that one of the captives' brains were blown out as he lay injured.

The troops followed the lead of several of their superior officers, invoking their right not to incriminate themselves before a legal panel set up at their unit's base camp in the central Iraqi city of Tikrit.

The investigation of the four men from the famed "Rakkasans" -- the 3rd Combat Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division -- is expected to spotlight the US military's controversial and opaque rules of engagement in Iraq.

Civilian defence lawyers have said orders from the Rakkasans' commander, Colonel Michael Steele, called for troops to "kill all military age males" during a raid on May 9 on a suspected Al-Qaeda base.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060803/pl_afp/iraqustrial