A US soldier has been charged with with raping and murdering an Iraqi woman, after killing three members of her family, including a five-year-old girl.
The US Justice Department said Steven Green, 21, a former private with the US Army's 101st Airborne Division, could face the death penalty if convicted.
He was arrested in the southern US state of North Carolina for his alleged involvement in the deaths near Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.
Green was discharged from the army this year with a 'personality disorder'.
It is alleged that Green and three fellow soldiers participated in the rape and killings before partially burning the bodies.
Crime scene photos taken after the 12 March incident showed pictures of an Iraqi woman, an Iraqi man and a young girl, who all appeared to have died of gunshot wounds.
The US military has come under the spotlight over a number of incidents since the US-led invasion in March 2003, most notoriously the mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib, which prompted a string of convictions.
An investigation is also underway into allegations that US Marines killed 24 civilians, including 10 women and children, in the Euphrates valley town of Haditha last year.
Two US soldiers were charged with voluntary manslaughter last week over the killing of an unarmed Iraqi civilian outside his home three months ago.
And this month, seven Marines and a sailor were charged with premeditated murder, kidnapping and other offences over the killing of a handicapped Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania near Baghdad in April.
At least five killed in Iraq car bomb
At least five Iraqis have been killed and 28 wounded after a car bomb exploded near a police patrol in the centre of the northern city of Mosul.
The attack happened at about 6am Irish time today in a bustling commercial area in the Al-Jazayer neighbourhood.
It is believed the police patrol had been targeted, but that most of the victims were civilians.
Hussein's wanted daughter living in Jordan
The authorities in Jordan have said that Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter, Raghad, whom the Iraqi authorities want arrested, is living in Jordan under the protection of the royal family.
The statement came after Raghad and her mother, Saddam Hussein's first wife, Sajida, were yesterday named on a list of 41 people sought by the Iraqi government.
The Jordanian authorities added that Raghad and her children were guests of the royal family and did not engage in any political activities.
They added that she was granted asylum by King Abdullah in 2003 when she fled with her sister after the US invasion of Iraq, and is in Jordan for humanitarian reasons.
Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, has urged countries harbouring suspects to hand them over for trial.
