- NEW: The U.S. Defense Department says it asked that the photos not be published
- NEW: Los Angeles Times publishes the photos at 7:30 a.m. ET
- Photos showing U.S. troops with bodies of suicide bombers will be published Wednesday
- The U.S. military is conducting an investigation
Los Angeles (CNN) -- A slew of officials from NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and the U.S. military issued strong condemnations Wednesday as the Los Angeles Times published photos of U.S. troops posing with what the newspaper said are the bodies of suicide bombers.
The incident, which took place in 2010, "represents a serious error in judgment by several soldiers who have acted out of ignorance and unfamiliarity with U.S. Army values," ISAF said in the statement. Gen. John Allen, the ISAF commander, "strongly condemned" the photos published by the Los Angeles Times.
A U.S. soldier released the photos to the paper "to draw attention to the safety risk of a breakdown in leadership and discipline," the Times said.
The military said an investigation is underway.
The article published on the paper's website at 7:30 a.m. ET has two photos. One shows a member of the military in front of what appears to be the body of an insurgent. The photo shows the insurgent's head and what may be his hand on the soldier's shoulder. Another soldier appears to be looking down at the body.
"A soldier from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division with the body of an Afghan insurgent killed while trying to plant a roadside bomb," the caption reads. "The photo is one of 18 provided to The Times of U.S. soldiers posing with corpses."
The second photo shows a group of people, including some American soldiers, standing above a mangled body with its two legs up in the air. One U.S. soldier who is smiling and giving a double thumbs-up, while another is smiling at the camera as well. That photo is not captioned.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was among those condemning the photos Wednesday.
"These images by no means represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan today," added Pentagon spokesman George Little.
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"The secretary is also disappointed that despite our request not to publish these photographs, the Los Angeles Times went ahead. The danger is that this material could be used by the enemy to incite violence against U.S. and Afghan service members in Afghanistan," Little's statement added. "U.S. forces in the country are taking security measures to guard against it."
In the article, Times Editor Davan Maharaj said, "After careful consideration, we decided that publishing a small but representative selection of the photos would fulfill our obligation to readers to report vigorously and impartially on all aspects of the American mission in Afghanistan, including the allegation that the images reflect a breakdown in unit discipline that was endangering U.S. troops."
Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, an ISAF spokesman, said the Los Angeles Times tipped off military officials to the photos in March, triggering an investigation. Cummings did not say where the photos were taken or how many people are under investigation.
"Such actions are morally repugnant, dishonor the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers and civilians who have served with distinction in Afghanistan, and do not represent the core values of the United States or our military," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.
It is the latest in a string of incidents that have plagued the U.S. military in Afghanistan this year.
In January, a video posted on a website showed four U.S. Marines urinating on enemy corpses.
A month later, ISAF personnel at Bagram Air Base improperly disposed of Islamic religious materials, including Qurans, in what U.S. officials described as an unintentional error.
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly left a remote outpost in Kandahar province's Panjwai district in March and went house-to-house, gunning down villagers. He has been charged with 17 murders in the shooting rampage.
Perhaps the most notorious incident involving photos of U.S. troops over the past decade took place in Iraq in 2004. Images of U.S. military personnel abusing naked and restrained prisoners in the facility outside Baghdad shocked the world.
