US soldier sentenced to life in prison over Afghan rampage

A US military jury sentenced an American soldier to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday for killing 16 Afghan civilians on their family compounds in a nighttime rampage last year, according to a verdict read in court.

Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has admitted to slaughtering the villagers, mostly women and children, in attacks in Kandahar province in March 2012. (Reuters)