A US soldier is expected to be charged with 17 counts of murder yesterday over the killings of mostly women and children in a shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan.A US official confirmed the murder charges on condition of anonymity and said Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, 38, would also be charged with six counts of assault and attempted murder.In Kabul, a senior US official said it had "pretty much been decided" the trial would be held in the United States, but furious relatives of the victims demanded the proceedings take place in Afghanistan instead.
