US Marines charged with assaulting Iraqi civilians

CAMP PENDLETON, California - Six US Marines have been charged with assault in connection with suspected attacks on several Iraqi civilians in Hamdania, days before the alleged kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian there.

Three of the Marines charged with assault on Thursday local time - Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III, Cpl. Trent Thomas and Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr. - had already been charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in the April 26 killing of 52-year-old Hashim Ibrahim Awad.

They are being held in the brig awaiting hearings in that killing, according to Capt. Amy Malugani, a Camp Pendleton spokeswoman.

Three others, Lance Cpl. Saul Lopezromo, Pfc. Derek Lewis and Lance Cpl. Henry Lever, were each charged with one count of assault.

The alleged assaults on April 10 came to light during the murder investigation, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Hutchins is charged with assaults on three Iraqi civilians, while the other Marines are charged with assaulting one civilian each. Details of the alleged assaults will be made public on Friday, Malugani said.

Attorneys for Hutchins, Thomas and Shumate could not be reached late Thursday.

The six Marines were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division before they were sent back to Camp Pendleton.

The Hamdania murder case is just one of many in which US servicemen are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians. A total of eight men have been charged with premeditated murder and other crimes in that killing.

Other Marines at Camp Pendleton have been accused in a separate case of killing 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. None, however, have been charged.

- REUTERS