Veteran denies Iraq rape charges

Steven Green faces a possible death penalty if convicted

A former US soldier has pleaded not guilty to raping and murdering an Iraqi woman and killing three family members.

Steven Green, 21, is accused of carrying out the rape and murders in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, in March, along with other soldiers.

Mr Green faces a possible death sentence if convicted of the killings.

The US ambassador to Iraq and the commander of US forces in the country have promised a vigorous investigation into the alleged rape and murder.

In their first remarks on the case, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen George Casey expressed their condolences to the family of the victims.

Military inquiry

"We will hold our service members accountable if they are found guilty of misconduct in a court of law," they said in a statement.

A military inquiry into the incident is the latest in a series into alleged abuses by US troops in Iraq.

Mr Green was arrested by FBI agents last week in North Carolina.

He appeared briefly in court in Louisville, Kentucky on Thursday.

I just killed them - all are dead Affidavit

Defence lawyer Scott Wendelsdorf, entered a plea of "not guilty on all counts" for Mr Green, who is charged with four counts of murder and one count of rape.

Federal prosecutors said they would ask a grand jury to bring an indictment against him and said the jury would begin considering the case in mid-July.

Shots heard

A statement from the US attorney in Kentucky says Mr Green is charged with going to a house near Mahmoudiya with three other people to rape a woman living in the house.

Mr Green was discharged from the army with a personality disorder

He allegedly shot and killed a man, a woman and a five-year-old girl and after raping another woman, he is alleged to have shot and killed her, the statement said.

According to an affidavit based on interviews with soldiers from his unit, Mr Green took the family into a bedroom, from where shots were heard.

"Green came to the bedroom door and told everyone, 'I just killed them. All are dead," the statement says.

Another affidavit said Mr Green, who belonged to the 101st Airborne Division, had been discharged from the army "due to a personality disorder" before the rape and killings were known about.

Some of the suspects belong to the Division's 502nd Infantry Regiment, the same unit as two soldiers kidnapped, tortured and killed by insurgents south of Baghdad last month.

Some reports suggested that this event may have spurred soldiers to come forward with information about the killings.