Two US Marines have been referred for trial by courts martial for a video of troops urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan, the US military says.

Staff sergeants Joseph Chamblin and Edward Deptola are also charged with failure to report or stop misconduct by junior Marines, including random firing of weapons.

Three other Marines were disciplined in August for their role in the clip.

It surfaced online in January this year.

In addition, the two non-commissioned officers, who are assigned to the Third Battalion, Second Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, are alleged to have posed for photographs with human casualties.