WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (AFP) - More than two dozen US soldiers could face charges related to prisoner abuse in Afghanistan after a probe into the deaths of two detainees at the US base in Bagram, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Citing Pentagon officials, the Post said army investigators are recommending charges against 26 soldiers following an investigation that took more than a year.
The cases involve the December 2002 deaths and other incidents at the US base north of Kabul, the Post said.
The recommended charges range from negligent homicide to dereliction of duty and failure to report an offense, the Post said, citing two army officers familiar with the case.
One sergeant has already been charged, officials told the newspaper.
The army expects to begin filing charges in two to three weeks, the Post said.
The alleged abuses in Afghanistan occurred two years ago, the Post said, before the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, a scandal that emerged after the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Most of the soldiers facing charges in Afghanistan are from the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and the 377th Military Police Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daily reported.
Some Special Operations troops could also be charged, one officer told the Post.
Some members of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion who served in Bagram were later posted at Abu Ghraib. Some were implicated in the abuse committed in the Iraqi prison, the newspaper said.
A Pentagon official told the Post some soldiers from the 519th could face charges in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army investigators have found that soldiers in the unit brought to Iraq some techniques they had used in Afghanistan, including the use of dogs to intimidate prisoners, the Post reported.