Accused Soldier 'Saw Friend's Leg Blown Off'

The US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians is said to have witnessed his friend's leg being blown off a day before the shootings took place.
The lawyer representing the unnamed staff sergeant said his client was likely suffering from stress after seeing his colleague wounded.
Defence attorney John Henry Browne said: "His leg was blown off, and my client was standing next to him."
Mr Browne said the 38-year-old soldier's family provided him with details of the injury to another US soldier, but the details have not been independently verified.
He also revealed that his client had been injured twice while serving in Iraq and doubted his physical fitness for duty.
The suspect, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, had served three tours in Iraq before going to Afghanistan in December last year.
Mr Browne said: "He and his family were told that his tours in the Middle East were over. His family was counting on him not being redeployed.
"Literally overnight that changed. So I think it would be fair to say that he and the family were not happy that he was going back."
Mr Browne dismissed as "nonsense" suggestions that the soldier, who had trained as a sniper, had been suffering any marital problems or had alcohol problems.
He said he had a limited amount of information about his client but described him as "highly decorated".
Mr Browne - who represented serial killer Ted Bundy and Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit" - revealed that charges against his client would be filed "probably not sooner than a few weeks".
It is not known where the soldier - currently being held at a base in Kuwait - will be tried.
The soldier is suspected of going on a shooting rampage in villages near his base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing nine children and seven other civilians.
US officials have anonymously described him as a father-of-two who has served in the military for 11 years.
Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he wants Nato troops to withdraw from rural villages immediately, and for security to be handed over to his government next year - a year earlier than planned.
Mr Karzai made the demands yesterday during talks with US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta .


Source:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/accused-us-soldier-suffered-injuries-iraq-041600701.html


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