Al-Qaida teen to be tried as adult

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, May 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. military judge has rejected a Guantanamo detainee's defense that he was too young at the time he was captured to be tried for war crimes.

Omar Khadr will face trial this summer on charges he threw a hand grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces sergeant and wounded another soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002.

The judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, Wednesday rejected the defense's argument that because Khadr was 15 at the time, he should not be held responsible for a war crime.

The Miami Herald said Brownback relied on a U.S. rule that authorizes the trial of enemy combatants regardless of their age.

Khadr's lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler said his client would become "the first child soldier tried for war crimes in modern history of war crimes tribunals."

Khadr, now 21, is a Canadian national who was brought to Afghanistan at age 11 by his father, a reputed al-Qaida fighter who was later killed in Pakistan. The teenager was shot and captured during the Aghan battle.