A US army officer has been charged over the murder of an Iraqi follower of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the US military said on Thursday.
"A Task Force 1st Armored Division commissioned officer was formally charged ... with the murder of an Iraqi man," the military said in a statement.
"The charge stems from a May 21 incident which took place near Kufa. Soldiers conducted a high-speed chase with a vehicle that they believed to be carrying suspected members of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia," it said. "During their pursuit, soldiers fired at the vehicle, wounding the driver and passenger. Shortly afterward, the driver was shot and killed at close range."
The military was referring to an incident in which al-Sadr aide Mohammed al-Tabtabai was arrested by US troops as he headed back from Kufa to its twin city of Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad.
The army officer will undergo the US military's Article 32 probe, the equivalent of a grand jury hearing that could initiate court-martial hearings against him.
A full court martial could result in the officer being jailed, fined and kicked out of the army.
Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has battled the US military around the cities of Najaf and neighboring Kufa for more than two months.
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