A US soldier accused of going on a deadly rampage against Afghan civilians was flown out of the country Wednesday, the Pentagon said, dpa reported.
In the Sunday shootings, the soldier allegedly left the forward base where he was stationed in Kandahar province and entered nearby Afghan homes, opening fire and killing at least 16 civilians.
Navy Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told US television channel Fox News that the suspect was flown to "an appropriate detention facility" outside Afghanistan. He would not say where the soldier is being held.
Afghan authorities had called for the soldier, who remains unidentified, to be tried in an Afghan court.
Kirby said that US officials "have kept Afghan authorities, all the way up to President (Hamid) Karzai, informed of this transfer. They know we're doing this, and they know why we're doing this."