The US military admitted on Saturday that its soldiers in Afghanistan had burned the bodies of two dead Taleban guerrillas and taunted insurgents about it, but had not meant it as a desecration.
The US military said an investigation into the incident concluded the soldiers had burned the bodies for "hygienic reasons" and said it would reprimand two non-commissioned officers for calling out taunts about it over a loudspeaker.
"Our investigation found there was no intent to desecrate the remains, but only to dispose them for hygienic reasons," US-led forces operational commander, Major General Jason Kamiya said.
The investigation stems from footage shown on Australian television in a report which says the pictures show US soldiers watching as flames lick two charred corpses in the hills above the village of Gondaz north of Kandahar.
It also shows two US soldiers reading messages they said had been broadcast over loudspeakers as propaganda.
"You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," read one soldier identified as psyops specialist Sgt. Jim Baker.
The US military said the soldiers implicated in the burning incident, would face disciplinary action and that the two junior officers who ordered the burning would be reprimanded for showing a lack of cultural and religious understanding.
The incident has caused anger among Afghans already upset with US-led forces over accusations of mistreating militant prisoners and using heavy handed tactics to hunt down the Taleban and members of al Qaeda believed to be hiding there.