A US soldier has been sentenced to three years in jail for the murder of a wounded Iraqi teenager in Baghdad in August.
Having pleaded guilty under a plea bargain that averted the risk of a death sentence, Staff Sergeant Johnny Horne, from North Carolina, was sentenced by a panel of seven senior soldiers at a court martial in Baghdad.
During the proceedings his action was described as a "mercy killing". He shot a youth who had survived an attack by US troops on a garbage truck which they suspected of being used by rebels during a Shi'ite uprising in Baghdad in August. US officials have been quoted as saying six other Iraqis also died. A second US soldier is to face trial on related charges.
Local people say the men were innocent garbage collectors.
Horne was also reduced in rank to private and dishonourably discharged.
