BAGHDAD, June 25: The US military charged a soldier with voluntary manslaughter on Sunday for shooting an unarmed Iraqi man in February, the latest of several such cases to come to light in recent weeks.

The military said in a statement that Specialist Nathan Lynn was also accused of obstructing justice, along with a second soldier, for conspiring with a third who prosecutors say placed an assault rifle by the body in an apparent cover-up attempt.

The third man had left the army since the incident, near a US base at Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on February 15 but the second, Sergeant Milton Ortiz, was charged with obstruction of justice, and separate counts of assault and making threats.

“Lynn was charged with one count of voluntary manslaughter for allegedly shooting an unarmed male Iraqi civilian on February 15 in front of a home where Lynn was pulling security for members of his unit,” the military said in its statement.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice distinguishes voluntary manslaughter from murder by saying the former is an unlawful killing ‘in the heat of sudden passion caused by adequate provocation’ while murder is ‘without justification or excuse’.

The announcement came after a week in which 12 Americans were charged with murdering Iraqis and on the day on which Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki promised that the occupying troops would respect Iraqis’ human rights.

The week’s previous murder charges relate to two cases of Iraqis being shot by US troops.

Charges are expected but have yet to be brought in the case of 24 civilians killed in November at Haditha.

The military is investigating the Marines involved.—Reuters