A military investigator described the events that took place in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, on March 12, based on an interview that he had with one of the accused soldiers.

The hearing is to decide whether the five soldiers should face a court martial for the murder of Abeer al-Janabi, her five year-old sister and their parents. If found guilty in a court martial, they could face the death penalty.

Special Agent Benjamin Bierce recalled how Specialist James Barker described how the couple and their youngest child were put in another room, while the teenager was kept in the living room.

Barker said that he held the girl's hands while Sergeant Paul Cortez raped her or tried to rape her. Barker then switched positions with Cortez and attempted to rape the girl, but said he was not sure if he had done so, Special Agent Bierce told the hearing.

Some shots were fired in the other room and Private Steven Green emerged, saying "They're all dead. I just killed them." Green put down an AK-47 assault rifle and raped the girl while Cortez held her down, the hearing heard.

Special Agent Bierce said Green then picked up the weapon and shot the girl once, paused, and shot her several more times. Kerosene from a lamp was poured over the girl and someone - it was not clear who - set her alight.

The hearing is the fifth being pursued by the US military against its own troops in Iraq. Private First Class Jesse Spielman, 21, Barker, 23, Cortez, 23 and Private First Class Bryan Howard, 19, are accused of drinking, changing into civilian clothes and abandoning their checkpoint to go to the house of the girl whom they had seen walking past.

Green, 21, who has been discharged from the army for a "personality disorder", faces the same charges and will be tried in a US civilian court. He has pleaded not guilty.

A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe, is charged with dereliction of duty and making a false statement and will also appear at the hearing in Baghdad.

The hearing continues.

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