A U.S. soldier charged with killing 16 Afghan civilians is expected to undergo a court-ordered review of his sanity beginning this weekend.

An Army staff sergeant accused of massacring Afghan civilians must undergo an official sanity review before a mental health defense can be presented, the military judge overseeing the case said Thursday.

Army prosecutors on Tuesday asked an investigative officer to recommend a death penalty court-martial for an Army staff sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a predawn rampage

Through a video monitor in a military courtroom, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales saw young Afghan girls smile beneath bright head coverings before they described the bloodbath he's accused of committing.

Little Robina took her seat wearing a deep-red head covering and a nervous smile, ready to tell her story. She giggled as any 7-year-old in the spotlight might.

Stories of the massacre came, one by one, over a live video link from Afghanistan into a military courtroom outside Seattle: torched bodies, a son finding his wounded father, boys cowering behind a curtain while others screamed "We are children! We are children!"

The medic saw Staff Sgt. Robert Bales covered in blood and knew from the pattern of the staining it wasn't his own. He asked where it came from and where he'd been. Bales shrugged, the medic, Sgt. 1st Class James Stillwell, testified Tuesday.

The U.S. soldier accused of carrying out one of the worst atrocities of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is due to appear in a military courtroom Monday, where prosecutors will for the first time lay out their case that he slaughtered 16 people,...

The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in March was transferred Monday to an Army base in Washington state, where he faces a pretrial hearing Nov. 5.