A U.S. soldier pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in jail Friday for killing a wounded Iraqi teenager. Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr., 30, was sentenced to three years in prison late Friday by a jury-like panel of seven service members, the military said Saturday. According to the AP, he also received a reduction in rank to private, forfeiture of wages and a dishonorable discharge.
The military tribunal heard witness testimony that soldiers fired on a group of Iraqi men placing homemade bombs along a road in Sadr City. Other soldiers arrived to find a burning truck and casualties around it. Witnesses said the soldiers, including Horne, tried to rescue the teenager from inside the vehicle, but decided he was beyond help because of severe burns and abdominal wounds. They decided to kill the boy "out of his misery."
In Baghdad, two high-ranking Interior Ministry officials were assassinated on Saturday morning, according to an Iraqi police official. Col. Razaq Abdul Kahreem and Col. Abdul Kahreem Farhan worked for the ministry's criminal intelligence department.
They were on their way to work in a private vehicle when the gunmen sprayed their car with bullets. The attack took place at the al-Darweesh intersection Saturday around 7 a.m..
Also Saturday, Iraqi police detained 30 people after a police station in Baqouba, north of Baghdad, was attacked the U.S. military said Saturday.
