Ex-US Army soldier charged with rape and multiple murder in Iraq

AN ex-US Army private has been charged with killing four Iraqi civilians - including a teenage woman he allegedly RAPED.

Steven Green was serving with the 101st Airborne Division when he allegedly entered a house in Mahmoudiya, near Baghdad, and raped and shot the woman after killing three of her relatives - including a five-year-old girl.

Three other US soldiers have been implicated in the same investigation.

Green, who was arrested by the FBI last Friday, was previously discharged from the army because of mental illness issues.

The 21-year-old's actions came to light after the incident because fellow former soldiers admitted details about it during a de-briefing which which implicated him. According to documents filed against him, Green suggested raping the woman after spotting her during a routine traffic patrol.

Armed with rifles, and a shotgun, Green - who faces the death penalty if convicted of murder or life in prison if convicted of rape - and colleagues went to the woman's house which was a few hundred yards from a check-point they were manning.

Green walked into a room where her family sat petrified, and after he closed the door, colleagues heard shots ring out.

He emerged moments later, allegedly said: "I just killed them. All are dead" and then he and a colleague raped the woman, after which Green - allegedly - shot her three times. According to detectives, her body was then doused in petrol and set on fire.

As well as setting her body on fire, the men involved - who were friends of two US soldiers would be later captured, tortured and then killed (with one being beheaded) in Baghdad by Iraqi soldiers in revenge for the rape and multiple murders - burned their blood-splattered army uniforms when they returned to base.

Said Boyd Mick, commander of the Fort Campbell Post 233 of the American Legion, "If they did what they're accused of doing, they deserve whatever they get. All the people I've talked to feel the same way."