US soldier accused of Afghan killings faces 'sanity' review

SEATTLE (REUTERS) - A US soldier charged with killing 16 civilians, most of them women and children, near his Army post in Afghanistan is set to undergo a medical review on Sunday to determine his state of mind at the time of the killings and ability to stand trial.

The review, known in the military as a "sanity board", will be conducted by three doctors at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, and will be completed by May 1, according to a US Army spokesman.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Robert Bales, a decorated veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who is accused of gunning down the villagers in cold blood during two rampages through their family compounds in Kandahar province last March.

Army prosecutors say Bales, a 39-year-old father of two, acted alone and with "chilling premeditation" when, armed with a pistol, a rifle and a grenade launcher, he left his base twice in the night, returning in the middle of his rampage to tell a fellow soldier: "I just shot up some people." The shootings marked the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on a rogue US soldier since the Vietnam War and further eroded strained US-Afghan relations after more than a decade of conflict in that country.