[TankGirl]

The Australian:

Rape-murder 'plotted for week'
July 03, 2006

BEIJI, Iraq: Investigators believe a group of US soldiers spent a week plotting an attack in which they raped an Iraqi woman, then killed her and her family in a town south of Baghdad.

A US official familiar with the investigation said flammable liquid -- possibly petrol or lighter fluid -- was used to burn the woman's body in a cover-up attempt. If convicted of premeditated murder, the soldiers could receive the death sentence under US military law.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack appeared to have been "totally premeditated" and the soldiers had reportedly studied the family for about a week before carrying out the assault. According to the official, the Sunni Arab family had just moved into a new home in the religiously mixed area about 30km south of Baghdad.

The US troops entered the home and separated three family members from the woman, the official said. They raped her, then killed her and set fire to her body. The soldiers then killed the other three members of the family.