U.S. prepares for 'violent backlash' in Afghanistan after photos of American soldiers posing with bodies of suicide bombers sparks outrage

Nato forces in Afghanistan are braced for a violent backlash after pictures emerged of U.S. soldiers posing with the mangled bodies of enemy bombers.

In one photograph, grinning soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division are shown holding up the severed legs of a suicide bomber whose remains they were sent to identify.

Others taken several months later show paratroopers in the same platoon posing with the bodies of three insurgents who had accidently blown themselves up with a roadside bomb.

Two soldiers are seen holding a corpse’s hand with the middle finger raised while, in another photo, a soldier smirks as the still-attached hand of one of the dead men rests on his shoulder.

In another image, a soldier holds his unit’s unofficial badge – which reads ‘Zombie Hunter’ – next to a corpse.

The photos, taken in 2010 in the Taliban stronghold of Zabul province, were among 18 passed to the Los Angeles Times by a soldier. The newspaper has published two so far. Read More