A US staff sergeant has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after a court-martial found him guilty of killing three Iraqi detainees who were freed and told to run before being shot. Raymond Girouard, 24, had been charged with premeditated murder and other offences that could have drawn a life sentence. He was acquitted of those charges on Friday and found guilty of three counts of negligent homicide as well as obstruction of justice and other charges.

Monday's sentence is subject to review by the commanding general at the post, a spokesman at Fort Campbell in Kentucky said. 

He added that Girouard could be paroled after serving about a third of the sentence.

Girouard was leading a squad in May 2006 during a raid on a suspected fighters' camp near Thar Thar lake, southwest of Tikrit, when the incident happened.

He was the last and most senior soldier from the 101st Airborne Division to be tried for the killings. Three other soldiers under Girouard's command who were also charged with the deaths made plea agreements and were sentenced earlier.

Specialist William Hunsaker and Private First Class Corey Clagett were sentenced to 18 years in military prison. The third got nine months in jail.