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US sergeant faces 17 murder counts in Afghan killings

Bales, 38, is accused of walking away from his remote base in southern Afghanistan and killing 16 civilians in a nighttime ambush

NEW YORK, March 23 (Itar-Tass) —— U.S. Sergeant Robert Bales will be charged on Friday with 17 counts of murder and various other charges, including attempted murder, in connection with the March 11 shooting deaths of Afghan civilians, a senior United States official said on Thursday.

Bales, 38, is accused of walking away from his remote base in southern Afghanistan and killing 16 civilians in a nighttime ambush.

A lawyer for the soldier, John Henry Browne, said that Sergeant Bales did not remember some events at the time of the shooting.