Washington: Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said that the U.S. Army staff sergeant who allegedly killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan during the weekend could face the death penalty if convicted in the unprovoked attack, media reported on Tuesday.
According to reports talking to media during his journey to Kyrgyzstan for meetings with officials Panetta Referred the shootings as a “criminal act”.
“He went out in the morning, early morning, and went to these homes and fired on these families and then at some point after that came back to the forward operations base and basically turned himself in, told individuals what had happened,” Panetta said.
Pressed on whether the soldier confessed, Panetta said, “I suspect that was the case.”
It is unclear where such a court-martial would be held, though the most likely venue would be Ft. Lewis in Washington State, where the soldier’s unit is based.
He further said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been assured that the person responsible would be brought to justice and held accountable.
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