The US Army has apologised for the distress caused by photos of American soldiers in Afghanistan posing with the body of a civilian.
In the photos, published by German news magazine Der Spiegel, one of the soldiers is grinning as he crouches beside the body of a man whose head he is holding up for the camera by the hair.
The magazine says the images are among thousands of pictures and videos unearthed during an investigation into claims that soldiers in a rogue US army unit in Afghanistan killed unarmed civilians for sport.
The two soldiers in the photos are among five Stryker Brigade soldiers facing court-martial at Joint Base Lewis McChord near Tacoma, Washington, on charges of premeditated murder stemming from the deaths of three Afghan villagers whose killings were allegedly staged to look like legitimate combat casualties.
Disclosure of the images, among dozens seized as evidence in the prosecutions but kept sealed from public view by the military, prompted the army to issue the apology and condemn the actions depicted in them as repugnant.