UK special forces soldiers tell inquiry of Afghan murder concerns

LONDON: Soldiers who were part of British special forces working in Afghanistan have told a public inquiry of their concerns that Afghans who posed no threat had been murdered in raids against suspected Taliban insurgents, including some aged under 16.

The independent inquiry was ordered by Britain’s defence ministry (MoD) after a BBC TV documentary reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances during the war in Afghanistan more than a decade ago.

The investigation is examining a number of night-time raids called deliberate detention operations carried out by British forces from mid-2010 to mid-2013. On Wednesday it released a precis of evidence from seven UK special forces (UKSF) witnesses who gave their testimony in secret for national security reasons and cannot be named.

One of the soldiers, known only as N1799, told the inquiry he had raised concerns in 2011 about a unit referred to as UKSF1 after having a conversation about its operations with one of its members on a training course.

“During these operations it was said that ‘all fighting age males are killed’ on target regardless of the threat they posed, this included those not holding weapons,” his witness statement said.

“It was also indicated that ‘fighting age males’ were being executed on target, inside compounds, using a variety of methods after they had been restrained. In one case it was mentioned a pillow was put over the head of an individual before being killed with a pistol.” N1799 escalated his concerns to other senior officers who took them seriously. Other officers told the inquiry they had heard rumours and had their own concerns about UKSF1 operations where high numbers of deaths and the official reports of the killings suggested some were unlikely to be justified.

One officer, referred to as N2107, had emailed colleagues expressing his disbelief at summaries of UKSF1 operations which suggested detained suspects had been allowed back into compounds where they were then said to have picked up weapons and attempted to attack the unit.