Third US Afghan 'kill-team' soldier pleads guilty

A third member of an alleged rogue US army unit in Afghanistan pleaded guilty to murder over shock killings of civilians, which embarrassed the US military. Soldier Andrew Holmes was accused of being a member of a five-person "kill team" implicated in the slaying of three Afghans while stationed in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan in 2010. After negotiations, Holmes on Thursday pleaded guilty to murder, but not to premeditated murder, at a court-martial hearing at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington state. He was expected to be sentenced shortly. Two other members of the alleged rogue unit, Jeremy Morlock and Adam Winfield, reached plea deals earlier this year as the US Army works to conclude the high-profile war crimes case. Morlock, the first to plead guilty, received a 24-year sentence in March of this year. In August, Winfield received a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, saying he was threatened by his platoon sergeant to take part in the killings. Holmes was charged with the murder of an Afghan villager in January 2010. Prosecutors believe that the slaying was made to look like a legitimate combat action. Holmes, along with Morlock, was one of the US soldiers shown posing for the camera with an Afghan corpse, in shocking photos published by German news magazine Der Spiegel. Two other soldiers -- Michael Wagnon and alleged ringleader Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs -- still face charges for their role in the killings. The soldiers were members of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Division's Stryker brigade, based out of the Fort Lewis base south of Seattle.