A US Marine sergeant accused of leading a massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha pleaded guilty on Monday to negligence, ending the final prosecution stemming from a 2005 incident

Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, had ordered his unit to shoot the civilians after a roadside bomb killed a member of their convoy.

He now faces a maximum of three months in prison and a rank demotion.

Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports from Washington.