GIs Being Investigated in 8 Noncombat Panama Deaths : Military: Murder charges are expected in at least one case occurring after December’s invasion, officials say.

The Army is investigating U.S. soldiers in eight noncombat deaths during and immediately after the Dec. 20 invasion of Panama, and murder charges are expected against at least one of them, senior Army officials said Monday.

One case involved the killing of a Panamanian civilian, allegedly after two American soldiers fled from a Panama City brothel without paying, then staged a fake gun battle to cover up the loss of an Army-issue pistol inside the establishment. The civilian, a man in his 50s, was hit by a stray bullet in the gunplay, Army officials said.

In a case in which murder charges are expected soon, a senior noncommissioned officer from the 82nd Airborne Division reportedly shot and killed one Panamanian taken as a prisoner and severely beat another. The Panamanians had been in a car that attempted to run a U.S. roadblock and from which a grenade was thrown.

The alleged incidents mar an operation that the Pentagon has portrayed as an unqualified success and one marked by unprecedented adherence to tight rules of engagement and strict military discipline.

In all, the Army Criminal Investigation Command is pursuing 21 formal investigations of serious misconduct during and after the Panama invasion, including the eight deaths. The inquiries resulted from more than 60 complaints from Panamanian civilians, U.S. soldiers and U.S. commanders.

The Army is also looking into an incident in which an American soldier accidentally killed another while mishandling his gun and into two apparent suicides by soldiers during the invasion.

The existence of the investigations and some of the details were first reported Monday by Army Times, a non-government weekly newspaper. The newspaper’s account was confirmed independently, and new incidents and details were uncovered by The Times.

The alleged incident at the brothel, which took place after the fighting between U.S. and Panamanian troops ended, was a “just a case of troops doing stupid things,” one senior Army official said. “It had nothing to do with combat at all.”

The incident that may result in murder charges against the noncommissioned officer is the most serious of the allegations under investigation, sources said. Several days after the heavy early fighting subsided, the NCO and several other U.S. soldiers were stationed at a roadblock when a carload of Panamanians dressed in civilian clothes approached. When ordered to halt, one of the Panamanians threw a hand grenade at the soldiers, killing one.

The U.S. troops halted the car with gunshots, killing several of the Panamanians and capturing at least two. The NCO is suspected of shooting and killing one of the prisoners and severely beating the other, officials said. It remains unclear whether the victims were Panamanian soldiers or civilians.

Under the military justice code, the unit commander responsible for the soldier or officer under investigation must decide whether to convene a court-martial, following what is known as an Article 32 hearing. The hearing is similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding.

“This could be presented as a good news story,” said one Army public affairs officer who asked not to be identified by name. “It shows that soldiers and citizens can come forward to a government willing to police itself.”

The U.S. government has said that 314 Panamanian troops and 202 Panamanian civilians were killed in the invasion, which was launched to destroy corrupt military dictatorship of the Panama Defense Forces and to bring their leader, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, to the United States to face drug and money-laundering charges.

Independent groups, however, have questioned the U.S. casualty figures, contending that many fewer Panamanian soldiers and at least 100 more civilians were killed in the invasion and its aftermath.

The undertaking involved as many as 26,000 American troops; 23 U.S. servicemen and three American civilians were killed, and 324 soldiers were wounded.