Assault Called Premeditated

Investigators believe American soldiers spent nearly a week plotting an attack in which they allegedly raped an Iraqi woman, then killed her and her family in an insurgent-ridden area south of Baghdad, a U.S. military official said Saturday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was in progress, said the attack appeared “totally premeditated” and that the soldiers apparently “studied” the family for about a week before carrying out the attack.

According to the official, the Sunni Arab family had just moved into a new home in Mahmoudiya, a religiously mixed area about 20 miles south of Baghdad. The Americans entered the home, separated three family members from the woman, then raped her and set fire to her body, the official said. The three others were also slain.

U.S. officials said they knew of the deaths but thought the victims died as a result of sectarian violence.

The Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera gave wide coverage to the alleged rape and slaying, which threatens to stoke public anger in the wake of a series of cases in which U.S. troops have been accused of killing or abusing Iraqi civilians.

The Iraqi government has not commented on the incident.