BBC News with Gaenor Howells
An American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians earlier this week has been flown out of Afghanistan. The victims, nine of them children, were shot in their homes early on Sunday. Paul Adams reports.
The removal of the soldier responsible for the shootings is likely to cause anger in Afghanistan when members of parliament have demanded that he be
put on trial
there. But this was never going to happen - the United States has always insisted that charges of
wrongdoing
by its soldiers be dealt with within the American military legal system. Nothing was ever going to change that. The soldier has yet to be charged and thus remains
anonymous
. US officials say he handed himself in. If, as seems possible, he requires
psychological
evaluation, it could be some time before he's identified, let alone charged. The US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said that if found guilty, the soldier could face the death penalty.
The United States has welcomed the conviction for war crimes of the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, describing it as a historic and important step in providing justice to the Congolese people. The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which is not officially recognised by the Americans, found Thomas Lubanga guilty of
recruiting
and using child soldiers. Peter Biles reports.
Thomas Lubanga's crimes
date back