Afghan Leadership Condemns U.S. Marines For Body Desecration Video

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has issued a strong denouncement of the video which appears to depict U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of killed Taliban fighters.

In a statement, President Karzai's office said: "The government of Afghanistan is deeply disturbed by a video that shows American soldiers desecrating dead bodies of three Afghans. "This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms. We expressly ask the US government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime." Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the BBC that this was not the first time Americans had carried out such a "wild action" and that Taliban attacks on the Americans would continue.

The story dominated international news programs last night as the Pentagon scrambled to identify and punish the involved service members.

VIDEO: The Afghan public reacts.