Vitina, Serbia - A US soldier in Kosovo was charged yesterday with murdering a local 12-year-old ethnic Albanian girl, US forces said.
The soldier, 35-year-old Staff Sergeant Frank Ronghi, was also charged with committing indecent acts with a child, the chief of staff for Kosovo's US-led military sector said.
Outside the girl's home in the town of Vitina, about 15 km from the giant military camp in eastern Kosovo, neighbours gathered to offer sympathy and support to her family.
Some complained at the general behaviour of US troops. But the victim's distraught father, clutching a photograph from military authorities of his daughter on a mortuary slab, said he felt no anger towards American soldiers in general.