Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the Army soldier suspected of slaughtering Afghan villagers in a rampage, will face 17 charges of murder, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The official confirmed that Sgt. Bales was expected to be formally charged Friday at the military detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he has been held for the past week.
U.S. and Afghan officials have said that 16 men, women and children were killed in the March 11 incident, which took place in Panjway, in southern Kandahar province. U.S. officials didn't explain why the formal charges will contain 17 counts of murder.
Sgt. Bales, 38 years old, also is expected to face related charges of military law violations in connection with the rampage, which followed a string of other actions by U.S. and coalition troops that offended Afghans and has further strained U.S. relations with the country.
John Henry Browne, a lawyer for Mr. Bales, said he hasn't been formally notified of the charges or when they will be released. He said wasn't surprised by the allegations.
Sgt. Bales, a veteran of four combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, is suspected of leaving a U.S. combat outpost to go on the early morning rampage, which claimed the lives of several women and children.
Officials only confirmed Sgt. Bales' identity after he had left the country.
In testimony Thursday, Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S commander in Afghanistan, said such events were 'heart-wrenching,' but added: 'The relationship between the coalition and the Afghan security forces remains strong.'
Sgt. Bales' case has cast a national spotlight on the debate over civilian casualties in Afghanistan, and added greater urgency to talks between the U.S. and Afghan governments about control of nighttime military missions and raids.
The rampage also has stirred the discussion in the U.S. about the after-effects of war on military service members and their families. Sgt. Bales was treated for traumatic brain injury after a vehicle rollover in Iraq in 2010; media reports have also focused on the strains on families caused by multiple combat tours during the decade-long conflict.
Sgt. Bales, from the Third Stryker Brigade of the Second Infantry Division, deployed to Afghanistan in December out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
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