UK to probe claims its troops routinely killed unarmed men in Afghanistan

Britain's Defence Ministry has announced it had established an independent inquiry to investigate allegations of unlawful killings by British soldiers in Afghanistan over a decade ago.

The announcement on Thursday follows a report by BBC television's Panorama programme in July that alleged soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had killed 54 people under suspicious circumstances.

Unarmed Afghan men were routinely shot dead "in cold blood" by SAS troops during night-time raids, and weapons were planted on them to justify the crimes, the broadcaster reported following its own four-year probe.

Individuals who served with the SAS squadron on that deployment talked to the programme and said they witnessed the SAS operatives "kill unarmed people during night raids."

According to the former soldiers' account, an individual's murder was justified by planting an AK-47 assault rifle in the scene and some individuals within the force "were competing with each other to get the most kills."

The newly launched statutory inquiry — to start early next year and be chaired by senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave — will probe the alleged wrongdoing from mid-2010 to mid-2013.

It will also scrutinise the "adequacy" of the Ministry of Defence's response to the concerns raised about soldiers' conduct and "assess what lessons can be learned", the ministry said.

"If there are further lessons to learn, it is right that we consider those fully to ensure all allegations are handled appropriately and in equal measure," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement.

He added that would "ensure our personnel are adequately protected from unnecessary reinvestigations".

Wallace said the MoD had made "a number of changes" in recent years to deal with serious allegations of wrongdoing, including creating a Defence Serious Crime Unit.

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'Operational standards'

Senior officers, including General Mark Carleton-Smith, who headed UK Special Forces at the time, were aware of concerns within the SAS about the operations but failed to report them to military police, it said.

Under UK law governing the armed forces, it is a criminal offence for a commanding officer to fail to inform the military police if they become aware of potential war crimes, the BBC noted.

Junior defence minister Andrew Murrison told parliament the decision had been informed by two cases, currently the subject of judicial reviews in Britain, brought by families who allege their relatives where killed by the SAS in 2011 and 2012 and that the circumstances were not properly investigated.

"The UK's armed forces rightly hold themselves to the highest possible operational standards," Murrison said.

"Operations must be conducted within the clear boundaries of the law and credible allegations against our forces must always be investigated thoroughly."

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Families say they 'live in hope'

The MoD has said previous investigations into the conduct of UK forces in Afghanistan had found insufficient evidence to bring charges.

The families of eight people, including three young boys, allege British soldiers murdered them in two separate night raids in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012, welcomed the announcement.

"My family has waited 10 years to find out why this happened," a member of the Noorzai family said in a statement released via their London-based law firm.

"We are happy that finally, after so many years, someone is going to investigate this thoroughly.

"We live in hope that those responsible will one day be held to account."

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