A Defense department official says the Marine Corps plans to charge seven Marines and one sailor with murder today in connection with the April death of an Iraqi civilian.
At Camp Pendleton, where the eight accused service members have been held in a military brig since late May, officials have scheduled an afternoon news conference concerning the alleged killing of the Iraqi in the village of Hamdania.
The announcement did not mention murder or other charges. The allegation is
that Marines pulled an unarmed Iraqi man from his home on April 26 and shot him to
death without provocation.
Seven Marines and one Navy corpsman from the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were taken out of Iraq and put in the brig pending the filing of any charges against them.
