TIKRIT, Aug 2: A young US army private told a military hearing on Wednesday that fellow soldiers ‘smiled’ then shot dead three Iraqi prisoners and threatened to kill him if he told investigators about the crime.

The investigation of four men from the famed “Rakkasans” — the 3rd Combat Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division — is expected to focus a critical light on the US military’s controversial and opaque rules of engagement in Iraq.

Civilian defense lawyers have said orders from Rakkasans commander Colonel Michael Steele called for troops to “kill all military age males” during a raid on May 9 on a suspected Al-Qaeda base.

Steele is a controversial figure following his leading role in a bungled 1993 raid in the Somali capital Mogadishu — made famous by the book and film “Blackhawk Down” — in which 18 US soldiers and hundreds of Somalis died.

Private Bradley Mason was testifying on the second day of a pre-trial hearing at Camp Speicher near Tikrit, in central Iraq, to decide whether to charge the four with premeditated murder.

Mason testified that he had been with Private Corey Clagett, Staff Sergeant Raymond Girouard, Specialist William Hunsaker and Specialist Juston Graber during the operation.

The US troops arrived at a suspect house by helicopter, shot one man at the window and captured three more hiding inside with two women, he said.—AFP