Investigation opened into allegations that US Special Forces soldiers killed Afghan civilians | army

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Ministers have announced a judge-led legal inquiry into allegations of more than 50 summary killings by Special Forces soldiers in Afghanistan, a decision made after years of reports that Britain’s elite forces killed civilians in cold blood.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Andrew Morrison, the defense secretary, said the Ministry of Defense (MoD) would accede to longstanding demands for an “independent legal inquiry” after years of rejecting the idea. The investigation will cover the period from mid-2010 to mid-2013.

The minister said Lord Justice Haddon-Keeffe would take over the job and start working “in earnest in 2023”. Haddon Cave will step down from his job as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of England and Wales to focus on the mission.

The announcement follows allegations that 54 Afghans were killed in suspicious circumstances by a special forces unit in Helmand province between 2010 and 2011, and accusations that this amounted to war crimes.

John Healy, the shadow defense secretary, said: “This private investigation is welcome and must succeed. It is essential to protect the reputation of our British Special Forces, to ensure the integrity of military investigations and to secure justice for anyone affected.”

A lawsuit filed by the law firm Lee Day on behalf of one man, Saifullah, alleges his father, two brothers and a cousin were killed during a SAS raid on a compound in southern Afghanistan in February 2011. It was named Objective Tyburn by the SAS, referring to a historic place of execution in London.

Evidence from court-ordered revelations indicated that Afghan men detained in SAS night raids were often separated from their families and shot dead after allegedly unexpectedly pulling out a grenade or an AK47.

Saifullah’s legal team sought judicial review, arguing that the Ministry of Defense had not properly investigated allegations of illegal activity and that Britain had breached its human rights obligations by not properly examining them.

Internal correspondence revealed that a sergeant in the Special Air Service described the episode as “the latest carnage!” In an e-mail sent the next morning, after reporting on a mission that led to the deaths of Saifullah’s family members.

Concerns about Special Air Service activity in Afghanistan have swirled around the Department of Defense for years, but criminal investigations were closed three years ago with no prosecutions filed.

In 2014, the military police launched Operation Northmoor, an investigation into allegations of more than 600 crimes committed by British forces in Afghanistan, including the alleged killing of civilians by special forces. It was decommissioned in 2017 and closed in 2019. The Department of Defense said no evidence of a crime had been found.

The BBC also broadcast allegations about Sass’ behavior in the Panorama series of documentaries. In July, before one such program aired, the Department of Defense accused the broadcaster of engaging in “irresponsible and incorrect” journalism by preparing to air the allegations in the first place.

However, within 24 hours of this statement, there were signs of a change of heart. Military police have launched a new investigation demanding the BBC and other organizations examine the allegations, which led to an announcement on Thursday.

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In July trial proceedings related to Saifullah’s case, Edward Craven, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the case “concerned alleged state wrongdoing of the most serious kind” and that there had been a “pattern of extrajudicial killings, allegations of cover-ups and allegations of failure to investigate properly with them.

The court heard that a military police officer wrote that “political pressure” was applied in 2016 to narrow the scope of the military police investigation into allegations of summary killings by SAS soldiers to limit their inquiries to “command responsibility at the tactical level.”

The lawyers said the task of the investigation would not be to determine the criminal or civil responsibility of the individuals, but instead to focus on whether the Afghans were killed unlawfully and whether there was a credible pattern of unlawful killings by the special forces. May recommend that further criminal or civil investigations are required.

A member of Saifullah’s family, who did not give his name, said in a statement issued by their lawyers that it was their desire to uncover the truth and hold those responsible accountable.

“I never thought this would happen. I am so happy that there are people out there who value the loss of life in my family and Afghans enough to investigate.”

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said shortly after announcing that there had been “several thorough investigations into the events involved”, but that it was now appropriate to consider “whether there are further lessons to be learned” at the same time as protecting SAS personnel from ” unnecessary investigations.

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