Sgt. Hasan Akbar, 33, is scheduled to undergo a court-martial this month in a March 2003 attack on fellow members of the 101st Airborne Division days after the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Akbar is accused of stealing grenades from a Humvee and using them and a gun in the attack.

The pretrial hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday. But two hours before it was to begin, Akbar fought with one of his military guards and both needed medical attention, the Army said. The hearing was postponed to Friday afternoon.

That rescheduled hearing was delayed 1 1/2 hours, during which time a doctor who had been scheduled to testify went missing.

The session finally got under way at 7 p.m., with Akbar brought into the courtroom shackled at the legs and wrists and under close guard by a pair of military police officers.

The doctor did not testify, but the military judge overseeing the case, Col. Stephen Henley, said Akbar had been found competent and that he would accept that finding.

If convicted of two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder, Akbar could get the death penalty.

Akbar has confessed several times to the attack and his lawyers plan to use an insanity or diminished capacity defense in his trial.

The case marks the first time since the Vietnam War that a soldier has been prosecuted for the murder or attempted murder of another soldier during wartime.

The judge has said jury selection would take place next week and that testimony should start April 11.

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