US Sergeant Robert Bales Charged With Afghan Massacre Of 17 Civilians

US Staff Sergeant Robert Bales is to be charged with 17 counts of murder in the Afghan massacre, a US official said.

The soldier is accused of attacking Kandahar villagers in their homes and faces the death penalty if convicted.

Bales will also be charged with six counts of assault and attempted murder.

Despite Afghan insistence, Bales is currently the only suspect. He will have a full list of charges read to him later on Friday, at the military Fort Leavenworth Prison in Kansas.

Bales' lawyer claims his client remembers "very little" of the mass killing spree.

According to John Henry Brown, the "decorated soldier" was unhappy about embarking on a fourth tour of duty and had previously recieved brain injuries while serving in Iraq.

Brown insisted there was no forensic evidence to prove the guilt of his client.

"I don’t know about the evidence in this case. I don’t know that the government is going to prove much. There is no forensic evidence. There is no confession," he said."

On Friday, a Taliban spokesperson told Reuters news agency the group did not trust the trial and would "certainly take revenge" on American forces in Afghanistan.

Nine children and three women were among those killed on 11 March, shot as they slept in their beds. Four men were also killed and five others were wounded.

At the time of the massacre, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai described the attacks as "impossible to forgive", saying in a statement on Sunday:

"When Afghan people are killed deliberately by US forces this action is murder and terror and an unforgivable action."

The shootings followed an "unintentional incident" in February when US soldiers burned copies of the Qur'an holy book, which resulted in an Afghan soldier shooting dead two American militaries.

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