2 US marines faces court-martial for urinating on dead Taliban

The case of two US marines, who had urinated on deceased Taliban militants in Afghanistan and posed for photographs with them in 2011, has been referred to a court-martial, the Pentagon said today.

The incident took place during a counter-insurgency operation in Helmand Province of Afghanistan on July 27, 2011.

The charges against the marines -  Staff Sergeants Joseph Chamblin and Edward Deptola - were referred to courts-martial on Friday by Lt Gen Richard P Mills, the Commanding General of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, a media release said.

Chamblin and Deptola were also charged with dereliction of duty for a number of other command failures involving younger Marines.

Besides, Deptola is charged with failing to stop the unnecessary damaging of Afghan compounds and wrongfully and indiscriminately firing a recovered enemy machine gun.

Both Marines are assigned to Third Battalion, Second Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

On August 27, three Marines were punished for misconduct that came to light during several investigations into the desecration and filming of deceased Taliban, shown in a video that became public in January 2012.

Disciplinary actions regarding other Marines will be announced at a later date, the statement said.

There are other pending cases related to this incident.