Shocking Photos Feature U.S. Soldiers Posing With Decaying Afghan Corpses

Photos featuring American soldiers posing beside newly killed bodies, decaying Afghan corpses and severed fingers are now widely circulating.

The grizzly photos obtained by The Associated Press were seized by Army investigators. The said photos will be used in the case against five soldiers accused of killing three Afghan civilians earlier this year.

Troops allegedly shared the photos by e-mail and thumb drive like electronic trading cards. Now 60 to 70 of them are being kept tightly shielded from the public and even defense attorneys because of fears they could wind up in the news media and provoke anti-American violence.

FOB Ramrod kill team refers to events involving the alleged killing of civilians perpetrated by members of the 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment while deployed in Afghanistan in 2010 at Forward Operating Base Ramrod. During the summer of 2010, the US Military charged five members of the platoon with the formation of a "kill team" which staged three separate murders of Afghan civilians in Kandahar province. In addition, seven soldiers were also charged with crimes including hashish use, impeding an investigation and attacking a whistle blowing private who alerted MP's during an initially unrelated investigation into hashish use by members of the 3rd Platoon. The alleged ringleader was Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs.