US military court told how Iraqi detainees were shot

TIKRIT, Iraq, Aug 3 (Reuters) Four US soldiers accused of murdering three detainees in Iraq invoked their right not to testify at a military hearing today that was also told how the victims were shot down as they tried to run away.

The hearing into the deaths on May 9 during a raid on a suspected insurgent camp on an island in the marshy fringe of Thar Thar Lake, southwest of Tikrit, will determine whether the four soldiers should be court-martialled for the killings.

The soldiers -- Private First Class Corey Clagett, Specialist William Hunsaker, Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard and Specialist Juston Graber -- are from the 101st Airborne Division and were serving in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

They have said the detainees were trying to escape during the shootings, but military prosecutors have said they were freed before being killed.

Corporal Brandon Helton testified that he saw the detainees, some with their blindfolds down, fleeing at full sprint, when the soldiers opened fire.

''The first one fell flat down and the second one, whenever he got shot, it was kind of like what you'd see in a movie where he spun around and landed on his back,'' he said.

When he approached the bodies he saw one of them spitting up blood.

He said Specialist Micah Bivens, a medic, told him the man was already dead ''but his body just didn't know it yet''.

Bivens testified earlier that he examined the three detainees, two of whom were clearly dead while the third had a sporadic heartbeat. As he went to the body bags about 100 metres away he heard a single shot.

''I checked on the third guy. To me there is no way that he could have been alive, considering there was brain on the ground,'' he said.

The defendants have been charged with premeditated murder, ttempted murder, conspiracy, communicating a threat, and obstructing justice -- the latter two charges for threatening to kill another soldier if he informed on them.

The hearing comes as the military investigates other cases of alleged abuses, including the killings of up to 24 unarmed civilians in the town of Haditha last year by U.S. Marines.

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.

REUTERS DKB KP1812