1115.org

This may be the most bizarre atrocity story to come out of the War on Iraq yet:

Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday.

The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of raping.

Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family of four in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. It did not elaborate.

“The entire investigation will encompass everything that could have happened that evening. We’re not releasing any specifics of an ongoing investigation,” said military spokesman Maj. Todd Breasseale.

“There is no indication what led soldiers to this home. The investigation just cracked open. We’re just beginning to dig into the details.”

However, a U.S. official close to the investigation said at least one of the soldiers, all assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment, has admitted his role and has been arrested. Two soldiers from the same regiment were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah.

At least four other soldiers have had their weapons taken away and are confined to Forward Operating Base Mahmoudiyah south of Baghdad. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

The official said the killings appear to be unrelated to the kidnappings but that a soldier felt compelled to report the killings after his fellow soldiers’ bodies were found.

The killings appeared to have been a “crime of opportunity,” the official said. The soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.

Even though officials are denying any connection, the soldier who reported the killings seems to be convinced that the two soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment were kidnapped and killed in retaliation for the rape and murders now being investigated.

***Update at noon ***

Additional details from Reuters:

A U.S. Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said at least three U.S. soldiers from the 502nd Infantry Regiment were under investigation.
[…]
In the latest case, the Army official said one of the soldiers who came forward with information about the crime said two soldiers were involved in the rape of the woman and then one of them killed her, a child and two adults, in their home.

The soldier suspected of killing the four family members was discharged from the military and is back in the United States, the official said. The official did not provide the reason for the discharge.

The soldiers were reported to have returned from the scene with blood stains on their clothes, the official said.

No one has yet been charged, the official said.

The other soldier who provided information about the crime said he had heard that three soldiers may have been involved, the official said.

The official did not know how the four Iraqis were killed.

The WaPo story was ascribed to AP. The Reuters story is based on a statement released by the military in Baghdad. There is some inconsistency between the two stories, and each has details that the other one doesn’t.

***Update, 5:30 am, July 3 ***
The victim was only 15, reports The Washington Post. This fact was not included in the military’s initial report because

Preliminary information in the military investigation put the age of the alleged rape victim at 20…

How military investigators came to this conclusion is not entirely clear, since

U.S. military officials contacted this weekend said they did not know the names of the people involved or most other details of the case…