Two US soldiers charged with assaulting two Afghan detainees at a US base in southern Afghanistan will face court martial, the US military has said. The soldiers are accused of assaulting the detainees and making false statements, it said. The US military said the detainees who were allegedly assaulted were being temporarily held at a forward operating base in Uruzgan province. Rights groups have accused US forces of a number of abuses in Afghanistan. A press release issued by the combined forces command in Afghanistan said both soldiers face \"multiple charges and specifications\". \"They include conspiracy to maltreat, dereliction of duty, maltreatment of detainees and assault consummated by battery,\" the release said. One of the soldiers faces \"additional charges of making a false official statement and conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline and of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces\", the release said. A third soldier is also facing \"non-judicial punishment for allegedly having knowledge of the abuse and not reporting it through the unit\'s chain of command\", the release added. The detainees who were allegedly assaulted did not need medical attention, the US military said. The charges against the soldiers came in October close on the heels of accusations that US forces burned the bodies of Taleban fighters, an act considered sacrilege in Islam. The US military ordered an immediate investigation. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the incident - if true - could harm the country\'s image abroad. Human rights groups have on a number of occasions accused US forces of abusing Afghans held at US detention centres in the country. At least eight prisoners have died in US custody since 2001. In September, a US military interrogator was sentenced to five months in prison for assaulting a detainee in Afghanistan who later died. Five other US soldiers have been convicted following the deaths of two prisoners at the military base at Bagram, outside Kabul, in 2002. (BBC)