US soldier gets three years for murder of Iraqi

A U.S. soldier was sentenced to three years in prison for murdering a severely wounded Iraqi teenager earlier this year, the US military said yesterday.

Staff Sergeant Johnny Horne, 30, from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had pleaded guilty to charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder at a court martial in Baghdad on Friday. He was sentenced by a panel of seven senior soldiers after four hours of deliberation.

As well as the prison term, Horne who was reduced in rank to private, will forfeit all pay and has been dishonourably discharged from the military, the military said in a statement.

The convictions stem from an incident on August 18 when Horne's unit came across a suspicious vehicle late at night in the poor Sadr City district of Baghdad.

US military officials have described the incident as a "mercy killing" after US soldiers opened fire on a garbage truck they suspected of being used by guerrilla bombers.