Selina Akhter was shot in the head and died instantly at the window of her fifth-floor apartment in the Queens borough of New York.

Police arrested a US soldier who they said was on leave and had been drinking when he fired shots into the air.

The victim's family said they were planning a surprise party for her 29th birthday on 31 December.

Her husband Golam Maola and two young children were in the flat at the time of the shooting.

Maola said he was on the telephone to relatives in Bangladesh when he heard two gunshots and found his wife in a pool of blood.

Police said they had arrested 23-year-old Private Danny Carpio and would be charging him with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Pte Carpio, who lives nearby, was drinking before meeting friends outside the apartment complex and shooting into the air.

Selina and Maola were born in Chittagong and came to the US in 1990 and 1997.