Seattle: The brutal, premeditated killings of three Afghan civilians -- allegedly at the hands of American soldiers -- are expected to be detailed in military court near here this fall, potentially undermining efforts by the United States as it tries to win support among Afghans in fighting the Taliban.

The cases, which accuse five members of an Army Stryker brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, near Tacoma, of deliberately ambushing three Afghan men with grenades and rifle fire this year, have also raised questions about how the Army has handled them.

The father of one of the soldiers said in an interview that he had repeatedly tried to alert military officials that his son had told him through Facebook in February that one murder had already been committed by members of his unit and that others could happen in the future.

The son had been threatened by members of his unit and feared for his life, said the father, Christopher Winfield, of Cape Coral, Fla. Two more US people were killed after Winfield first reached out to the Army.

"Nobody listened," he said.

Winfield, whose claims were first reported by The Associated Press, said in an interview that he called an Army hot line, an Army criminal investigations unit and members of his son's command unit based at Fort Lewis on February 14.

The only time he reached a person by phone, he said, a Fort Lewis sergeant told him his son should report the activities upon his return to the United States.

But he said that when his son, Specialist Adam C. Winfield, returned from his deployment in June, "They arrested him for murder as soon as he stepped off the plane."

Specialist Winfield is one of three soldiers accused in the killing of Mullah Adahdad near Forward Operating Base Ramrod, in early May, "by means of throwing a fragmentary grenade at him and shooting him with a rifle," according to an Army charging document.

Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs is also accused in that killing, as is Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock. Sergeant Gibbs and Specialist Morlock are also accused in the January killing of Gul Mudin and in the February killing of Marach Agha.

Specialist Michael S. Wagnon II is also accused in the death of Agha and of later trying to impede the criminal investigation "by obtaining a hard drive which contained evidence of murders and asking another soldier to erase said hard drive," according to a charging document.

Pfc. Andrew H. Holmes is also accused in the death of Mudin.

Army officials say the Army's senior leadership in Washington is watching the cases closely, fearing that the negative publicity any hearings will generate as well as photos and other evidence might anger Afghan civilians while the United States is trying to win support for a counterinsurgency campaign against the Taliban. They worry the cases could be a propaganda boon for the Taliban.

The charges echo several high-profile criminal episodes at the peak of the fighting in Iraq, when American Marines and other servicemen were accused of killing Iraqi civilians in unprovoked attacks.

In one case that outraged Iraqis, American soldiers were convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl and killing her and her family. In Afghanistan, air strikes and botched American commando raids that killed civilians have already caused political problems.

In addition to the murder charges against the Stryker soldiers, Army investigators are likely to investigate the claims made by Christopher Winfield, Army officials said. The Army would not comment directly on the murder cases beyond the information in its charging documents.

"We're just waiting to see where the facts of the investigation will lead," said Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman.

The defendants have denied the accusations. An Army spokeswoman said dates for the defendants to appear in court this fall have yet to be determined. But lawyers said they expected Article 32 hearings, which will determine formal charges against the soldiers, to begin at Fort Lewis in the coming weeks.

Major Kathleen Turner, a spokeswoman for I Corps, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, said she expected that the hearings would be public and that each soldier's case would be handled independently.

The charges against Sergeant Gibbs appear to be the most extensive and the most gruesome. A lawyer for Specialist Winfield said several defendants had claimed that Sergeant Gibbs, their unit leader, had planned the killings as a kind of morbid entertainment and that he had intimidated subordinates into either participating in or covering up the crimes.

A lawyer for Sergeant Gibbs has said in the past that the killings resulted from legitimate battlefield engagements. An automated e-mail response from the lawyer, Phillip Stackhouse, said he was out of the office, in Afghanistan. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"There are two versions of the story you will hear come out," said Eric Montalvo, the lawyer for Specialist Winfield. "These are legitimate kills, some people will say. The second tier is going to be that 'Gibbs made me do it.' "

Charging documents and statements made to investigators by the soldiers say that Sergeant Gibbs collected "finger bones, leg bones and a tooth taken from Afghan corpses."

Documents and people interviewed also said Sergeant Gibbs illegally collected AK-47 rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons used by the Afghan National Police and other non-United States forces to place near victims to suggest that American soldiers were simply returning fire.

Although Winfield, the soldier's father, said he first made efforts to report trouble in the unit in February -- including leaving what he said was an unanswered message with the office of Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, the murder investigation did not get under way until the spring.

The investigation initially focused on reports that soldiers in the unit were using hashish. One soldier then informed superiors of the killings, Montalvo said. Seven other people in the unit have been charged with crimes, in some cases accused of firing on Afghan civilians and in others accused of hashish use.

It was unclear whether senior Army leaders had made any assessment about the platoon's parent unit, which was renamed the 2nd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division after it returned from Afghanistan. Tallman, the Army spokesman, said the brigade had faced heavy combat.

"This brigade had a very challenging tour and suffered a significant number of casualties while in Afghanistan," he said.

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