U.S. soldier charged with murder in Iraq

April 6, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A U.S. soldier has been charged with murder in the shooting of a foreign contractor last month at a base north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday.

Pfc. Carl T. Stovall III, 25, of Kennesaw, Ga., was taken into custody soon after the March 26 shooting at the U.S. base in Taji, which is about 12 miles north of Baghdad, the statement said.

A murder charge was formally lodged against him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the statement added.

The statement gave no further details of the shooting and did not identify the victim by name or nationality.

The victim was identified as a third country national, meaning neither American nor Iraqi.