Charges in Afghan shootings expected within a week

Charges against an American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians are expected to be filed within a week and if the case goes to court the trial will be held in the United States, said a legal expert with the US military familiar with the investigation.Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is suspected of leaving a U.S. base in southern Afghanistan, entering homes and gunning down nine children, four men and three women before dawn on March 11. Bales, a 38-year-old married father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington, is currently being held at a U.S. military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.The shootings have further strained ties between the U.S. government and President Hamid Karzai who has accused the U.S. military of not cooperating with a delegation he appointed to investigate the killings in Panjwai district of Kandahar province. The Afghan investigative team also is not convinced that one soldier could have single-handedly left his base, walked to two villages, shot and killed 16 civilians and set fire to some of their bodies.Syed Mohammad Azeen, a tribal elder from Balandi village, said Sunday in Kandahar that he and other villagers believe more than a dozen soldiers were involved. Other villagers said they saw 16 to 20 U.S. troops in the villages. Its unclear whether the soldiers the villagers saw were part of a search party that left the base to look for Bales, who was reported missing.