A US occupation soldier who was responsible for thrill kills of Afghan civilians was jailed for life Thursday, after a military jury convicted him of three murders.

A US occupation soldier who was responsible for thrill kills of Afghan civilians was jailed for life Thursday, after a military jury convicted him of three murders.

A five-member military panel found Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs guilty at the end of a week-long court martial, and said he should serve at least 10 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.
Gibbs was convicted on 15 counts in all, including three of premeditated murder for his role in three killings in southern Afghanistan between January and May last year.

The prosecution portrayed Gibbs as the leader of the rogue unit, which also harvested body parts from the victims as macabre war trophies.
Three members of the unit had already plead guilty in a scandal that has threatened embarrassment for the US military on the scale of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse in Iraq, a scandal exposed in 2004.

"There is the savage," said Major Dre LeBlanc, pointing at Gibbs. "Sergeant Gibbs is the savage."

In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutor Major Robert Stelle dismissed Gibbs's claims that he was responding to legitimate attack when the team killed the Afghans.

He was accused of setting up the killings, planting weapons on the dead civilians' bodies to make it look like they were fighters, and then removing fingers and teeth to show off to colleagues.