APNewsBreak: Afghan attack suspect at Leavenworth
Mar 17, 2012, 3:23 AM
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) – The soldier accused of gunning down 16 Afghan villagers has arrived at a U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Army officials said in a statement released early to The Associated Press that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales arrived Friday night at the prison in northeast Kansas. He was placed in his own cell at the prison adjacent to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks.
Bales is a 38-year-old Army veteran who was in his fourth tour in a war zone. He arrived in Afghanistan in December. He was assigned Feb. 1 to work with a force that pairs troops with villagers to help provide neighborhood security.
He’s accused of going on a shooting rampage near his southern Afghanistan base early Sunday, killing nine children and seven other civilians, then burning some bodies.
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