Yellow Ribbons for Satan's Army: US Death Squad Played Poker With Dead Childs Fingers

03-28-2011 • Dailymail.co.uk/

Shocking new details emerged today of how American soldiers formed a 'death squad' to randomly murder Afghan civilians and mutilate their corpses. An investigation by Rolling Stone magazine details how senior officers failed to stop troops killing Afghans and keeping their body parts as trophies. In one horrific episode, the magazine claims troops chopped off a dead Afghan boy's finger and later used it as 'gambling chip' in a game of cards. The damning dossier is likely to prove to be highly damaging for the Army still reeling from last week's revelations about the brutal acts of violence carried out by the notorious 'death squad'. Troops shot dead civilians and tried to cover their tracks; U.S. soldiers hacked off part of a dead man's skull; Soldiers cheered as they filmed a U.S. airstrike blowing up two Afghan civilians; A video showed two Afghans on a motorcycle being gunned down. The magazine claims the men hacked off bits of skull from their victims and kept them as trophies of their kills. The soldiers are also accused of opening fire on civilians for no reason and covering up their attacks by planting guns and magazine on their victims. The magazine claims that amongst the accused 'killing innocent Afghan civilians became less a reason for concern than a cause for celebration’. Last week Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, admitted his part in the twisted scheme and was jailed for 24 years. The remaining four soldiers who are due to be court-martialled are Sergeant Calvin Gibbs - who is accused of being the ringleader - Specialist Adam C. Winfield, Specialist Michael S. Wagnon II and Private first class Andrew H. Holmes. They were all part of the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, of the 2nd Infantry Division, who carried out at least four executions in Kandahar province between January and May last year. According to Rolling Stone the men joked for weeks about killing ‘savages’ before finally murdering a boy of around 15 in a farming village, their first kill.