Washington ? An Army criminal investigation has implicated 28 U.S. soldiers in the beating deaths of two Afghan prisoners found dangling from chains in their cells in December 2002, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

The soldiers — some of whom were with the military intelligence unit that later transferred to Iraq and was involved in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal there — face possible charges ranging from dereliction of duty to involuntary manslaughter, Pentagon officials said. An involuntary-manslaughter conviction could result in a 10-year prison term and dishonorable discharge.

As with the Abu Ghraib scandal, those implicated were from a regular Army military intelligence unit — the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion — and a reserve military police unit.

Investigators from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command recommended that the soldiers be charged in the deaths of Mullah Habibullah and a taxi driver named Dilawar at the U.S. military’s Bagram air base.

One of the 28 soldiers, Sgt. James P. Boland of the Army Reserve’s 377th Military Police Company, already has been charged with assault in the case.

Although the deaths of Habibullah and Dilawar occurred several days apart, both men were found to have blood clots caused largely by blunt-force injuries to their legs, autopsies found.

Both cases were complicated by the position in which the men were forced to stand and by dehydration, apparently caused by their refusal to eat or drink, said the Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pentagon officials would not say whether the men died during or after interrogation.