Afghan government officials said Sunday that the United States military has paid compensation to the relatives of those shot dead in an alleged rampage earlier this month by an American soldier in southern Afghanistan.

A member of the Kandahar provincial council, Hajji Agha Lalai Dastagiri, said $50,000 (37,700 euros) had been paid for each Afghan killed and $11,000 (8,300 euros) for each injured. Dastagiri also said Afghan President Hamid Karzai had authorized compensation of more than $2,000 (1,500 euros) for each Afghan killed.

A US official in the Afghan capital, Kabul, speaking anonymously, confirmed that compensation had been paid. However, he declined to discuss the amount.

Dawn shooting spree

The 38-year-old staff sergeant, Robert Bales, has been accused of leaving his base secretly before dawn on March 11, then entering houses in two nearby villages and opening fire on sleeping people in them.

Afghan officials and villagers say 16 were killed in the shooting spree. The US military has charged Bales with 17 murders, without explaining the discrepancy.

The dead included nine children, whose ages were not disclosed in the charge sheet. Eleven victims were from one family.

The killings sparked outrage from Karzai's government and prompted the president to call for a quicker withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. It also exacerbated ill-feeling against the US among the Afghan public, already shocked by reports of the burning of Korans by US military personnel and an earlier leaked video of US Marines urinating on Afghan bodies.

Possible death penalty

Bales, who is being detained in a military prison in the US state of Kansas, could face the death penalty for 17 murders with premeditation, along with six counts of attempted murder against other civilians in Kandahar.

Bales's lawyer, John Henry Browne, says his client is suffering from amnesia and that he might argue that Bale was acting with "diminished capacity" owing to an emotional breakdown.

The trial is expected to take place in 18-24 months' time.

tj/mz (dpa, AFP, Reuters)