BAGHDAD - Iraq has launched its own investigation into the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl by American soldiers even though the soldiers face a possible U.S. court-martial in the case, an official said Tuesday.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported the capture of more than 100 known or suspected al-Qaida terrorists and sectarian death squad leaders, and five people were killed Tuesday in the violence sweeping the country.
The Iraqi investigation into the rape-slaying started Thursday and was expected to take one week, said chief prosecutor Adnan Mahmoud of the criminal court in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, where the March 12 assault took place.
Mahmoud is part of the investigation panel along with Mahmoudiya's mayor, police chief and the head of the town's main hospital.
He said the panel interviewed witnesses and inspected the house where Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, 14, was raped, shot dead and set on fire, allegedly by a group of U.S. soldiers who had observed her for days. Also killed in the house were her 5-year-old sister and parents.
U.S. authorities arrested five soldiers and a former private in connection with the case.
The active-duty soldiers faced a military hearing earlier this month to determine whether they should be court-martialed. A decision is pending.
"We will do our best to try to get those soldiers to stand trial in an Iraqi court. If not, we will try them in absentia," Mahmoud said.
The United States is not expected to allow an Iraqi trial.
