Evidence of the killing of defenceless prisoners in Afghanistan by members of the Special Air Service (SAS), has been in the news. SAS is a secretive Special Forces unit of the army about which the BBC made a documentary which was released on July 12. The programme was part of the current affairs investigatory journalism series, Panorama, and was based on the scrutiny of the actions of one squadron in the 2010 to 2011 period.

Panorama reported that SAS operational accounts and interviews with individuals who served with the SAS revealed that SAS operatives had killed unarmed people during night raids. Fabricated reports covered up that SAS operatives had planted weapons at the scene to justify killing unarmed men. The Panorama report provides examples of "strikingly similar" operational reports on men who had been killed after allegedly pulling AK-47 rifles or hand grenades from behind curtains. It said, "Several people who served with special forces said that SAS squadrons were competing with each other to get the most kills, and that the squadron scrutinised by the BBC was trying to achieve a higher body count than the one it had replaced."

The BBC investigation focused primarily on one six-month deployment by a squadron operating mainly in Helmand province starting in November 2010. The main role of the squadron was deliberate detention operations, also known as "kill or capture" raids, to detain Taliban commanders and disrupt bomb-making networks. It was reported that civilians could easily end up on a list of targets for these raids.

"Internal emails show that officers at the highest levels of Special Forces were aware there was concern over possible unlawful killings, but failed to report the suspicions to military police despite a legal obligation to do so."

The death toll of the squadron investigated was "in the triple figures" during its six-month tour, with evidence that 54 may have been "unlawfully killed". There were no injuries to SAS operatives in any of the raids scrutinised by the BBC.

The extraordinary number of people being killed on the SAS night raids was noted as a concern by senior officers in February of 2011, with internal memos describing reports from the squadron as "quite incredible" and even speaking of the squadron's "latest massacre", and an email from an operations officer to a colleague saying that "for what must be the 10th time in the last two weeks" the squadron had sent a detainee back into a building "and he reappeared with an AK".

The documents reviewed revealed that in 2011 and 2012 senior officers were informed about the suspicious killings but that information was not passed to the Royal Military Police (RMP). From 2014 to 2019 the RMP conducted Operation Northmoor, an investigation into more than 600 alleged offences by British forces in Afghanistan which included a number of killings by the SAS squadron, in which they were obstructed by British military in efforts to gather evidence.

Troops from the US, Australia and Poland have also been accused of extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan. In Australia a military investigator reported in November 2020 with details of 23 cases with 39 fatalities and evidence that the Australian Special Air Service Regiment responsible covered up the killings. Attempts by the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged US crimes were blocked by the US government.

All such "special forces" should be disbanded immediately and brought to justice. In particular, the outcry regarding the Panorama exposé must not be ignored, and the finger must be pointed at those at the highest level who have sanctioned these crimes.

(TML Daily)

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