A unit of elite Australian special forces troops is under investigation for mutilating the body of at least one Afghan insurgent.
The ABC understands the hands were removed from the corpse of an insurgent corpse and taken back to the Australian base at Tarin Kot.
The incident is said to have happened during a combined operation of the Afghan national security force and an Australian Special Operations Task Group force in Zabul province in April, that resulted in the killing of four insurgents.
It's believed the insurgent's hands were taken for fingerprinting.
