The US Navy has charged four members of elite forces with murdering a US Army soldier in the west African country of Mali last year.
Officials say Army Staff Sergeant Logan J Melgar was strangled to death by two Navy SEALs and two Marines who later tried to conceal their crime.
They allegedly cut the victim's throat to appear as if they tried to perform a life-saving operation on him.
The charges do not name the accused men or provide a motive.
What are they accused of?
Military investigators say that the four accused service members broke into Staff Sgt Melgar's private bedroom in Bamako, Mali's capital, while he was sleeping with the intent to bind him with duct tape.
One put Staff Sgt Melgar in a fatal chokehold that was “inherently dangerous to another and evinced wanton disregard for human life,” according to the charge sheets, which were released on Thursday.
Two of the men told investigators they attempted CPR and tried to perform a tracheotomy on Staff Sgt Melgar before seeking help. But a later post-mortem examination found that he died by asphyxiation.
Two of the accused are US Marines and are listed as being part of the Special Operations Command.
The other two are Navy SEALs from the Navy Special Warfare Development Group. The unit is better known as SEAL Team 6, which participated in the May 2011 raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
All four are charged with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter,…
