A GROUP OF US soldiers are facing charges over killing Afghan civilians for sport and collecting their fingers as trophies.

A total of 12 men are charged with taking part in the secret “kill team”. Five stand accused of murdering three Afghan civilians, and seven more are accused of covering up the murders and violently attacking a recruit who moved to expose them.

The men were all members of the Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.

Legal documents detail how 25-year-old Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs began to speak of killing civilians – allegedly boasting about his exploits in Iraq, and saying how easy it would be to “toss a grenade at someone and kill them”, The Guardian reports.

One soldier has said he felt that Gibbs was “feeling out the platoon” by bringing up the topic.

Investigators said Gibbs and another soldier, 22-year-old Jeremy Morlock, then decided to create a “kill team”. They invited other members of their brigade to join.

Investigators are looking into allegations that, while on patrol over the following months, the “kill team” murdered at least three Afghan civilians for sport.

The soldiers allegedly targeted their victims randomly, and in some cases posed for photographs beside their bodies and collected fingers as trophies.

Gibbs, Morlock, and three other soldiers; Andrew Holmes, Michael Wagnon and Adam Winfield – are accused of murder and aggravated assault amongst other charges.

They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted. All men have denied the charges.

The killings were exposed in May following an army investigation into a vicious assault on a soldier in the group, who revealed the existence of the alleged “kill team”.