The US Defence Secretary has issued an apology after it emerged that a group of US marines had posed with a flag that "adopted the SS insignia".
Leon Panetta's office expressed regret for the insensitivity displayed by the sniper team when it posed alongside a US flag and another bearing "a Nazi-related symbol".
The ten Marines, who were serving in Afghanistan at the time but are no longer with the unit, were given a warning but were not punished for their conduct.
Organisations including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the Washington-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation called on the US government to investigate the incident.
