U.S. prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for a former U.S. soldier if he is found guilty of taking part in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family.
Prosecutors filed the notice Tuesday against the former army soldier, Private Steven Green, in federal court in the midwestern U.S. state of Kentucky. The notice cited the charges against him, including premeditated murder.
Green has been identified as the ringleader of the March 2006 rape and murders in the southern Iraqi town of Mahmudiyah.
Prosecutors accuse Green and four other soldiers of killing an Iraqi couple and their six-year-old daughter before raping and murdering their 14-year-old daughter, Abeer Kassem Hamza al-Janabi.
Prosecutors say the soldiers then shot her to death and tried to burn her body in an attempt to cover up the crime.
Three of the accused pleaded guilty and were sentenced to varying prison terms. A fourth man is scheduled to face trial in the coming months.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.