WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- The United States has paid compensation to at least 17 families who lost relatives in an alleged shooting rampage by a U.S. soldier, Afghan officials said.
Before a U.S. trial even began against accused Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the United States told victims' families at a meeting in Kandahar it would pay $46,000 for each of the 17 people killed and $10,000 for each of the six people injured, the BBC reported Sunday.
Bales, 38, was charged Friday with 17 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of assault and attempted murder for the March 11 attacks in two villages.
He was flown out of Afghanistan last week and is jailed in solitary confinement in Kansas at the Fort Leavenworth Army base.
Bales could face the death penalty if convicted on any of the murder charges, although his trial is expected to take more than a year, the BBC said.
The killing spree of civilians enraged both the Afghan government and Taliban extremists, who vowed to step up attacks on U.S. and NATO allies.
