WASHINGTON, May 5: The US military has investigated the deaths of 25 prisoners held by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and determined that two prisoners were murdered by Americans , one an Army soldier and the other a CIA contractor, Army officials said on Tuesday.

An official said that a soldier was convicted in the US military justice system of killing a prisoner by hitting him with a rock, and was reduced in rank to private and thrown out of the service but did not serve any jail time.

The official said a private contractor who worked for the CIA was found to have committed the other homicide against a prisoner. Word of these investigations came as the Pentagon continued to investigate the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US forces at the Abu Ghraib prison. -Reuters