U.S. soldier charged with murder for Iraq shooting

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier suspected of shooting dead five fellow servicemen at a military clinic in Baghdad was charged with five counts of murder Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

The military said Sergeant John Russell of the 54th Engineer Battalion, based in Bamberg, Germany, was suspected of being the man who went on a shooting spree Monday at Camp Liberty, near Baghdad airport, in an incident that the top U.S. military officer suggested may have been triggered by stress.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was shocked and deeply saddened by the "horrible tragedy" in which Russell is accused of walking into a counseling centre for soldiers who are experiencing combat stress and opening fire, killing the five.

"The suspect ... Sgt John Russell is charged with five specifications of murder and one specification of aggravated assault," the military said in a statement, adding that he is in military police custody.

Russell is from Sherman, Texas.

"There were a total of five service members killed yesterday. Two were 55th Medical Company staff officers at the Liberty Combat Stress Control Centre," it added.

The other three were Army enlisted soldiers who happened to be at the centre at the time, it added.

The Pentagon identified one of those killed as Navy Commander Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, saying he died of injuries sustained in a "non-combat related incident."

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that the incident highlighted the need to redouble efforts to deal effectively with combat stress and of the risk of multiple deployments of soldiers.