The BBC’s review program “Panorama” has for several years examination found that soldiers in the British special forces SAS routinely and “cold-bloodedly” shot unarmed men to death during night raids during the long war in Afghanistan.
A SAS unit shot dead 54 people during a six-month mission in the Afghan province of Helmand in 2010-11. Operational reports written afterwards showed that the high number of deaths aroused great surprise in the military, not least because no injuries were reported among the British soldiers.
“Did not go together”
– Too many people were killed during night raids and the explanations did not go together. That someone is arrested should not end with them dying, says a high-ranking military officer at SAS headquarters to “Panorama”.
Several people who served side by side with the special forces testify about how they shot dead unarmed people. They also testify that they had automatic weapons that were placed next to the dead, so that it would look as if they had posed a threat. The SAS units are also said to have competed among themselves in how many people they could kill.
The program has looked at legal documents, leaked emails and investigated several places where the fatal shootings took place. In one case, a large group of men were shot to death in a house in the countryside. The bullet holes that remain in the walls are very low, which is judged to be due to the people being shot standing leaning or on their knees.
Several reports from the raids describe how arrested men suddenly grabbed grenades and tried to throw them at the soldiers, after which they were shot.
“Fortunately, it did not detonate… This is the eighth time this has happened. You could not even figure it out,” a military officer at SAS headquarters wrote to another in an email received by the BBC.
Several alarms were raised about the SAS unit in question, but these were not obeyed and a year later it was sent on a new similar assignment, according to the BBC.
Tried to investigate
In 2014, the British military police launched an investigation into more than 600 suspected offenses of British soldiers in Afghanistan, including several deaths during the SAS unit’s operations. But investigators tell the BBC that they were hindered by the military, after which the investigation had to be closed.
General Mark Carleton-Smith, then head of the SAS forces, had received information that units were being accused of extrajudicial executions, but did not notify the military police, according to the BBC.
The British Ministry of Defense tells “Panorama” that it sees no new evidence that British soldiers have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
“Britain’s armed forces have served with courage and professionalism in Afghanistan and we will always demand the highest possible level from them,” the ministry said in a statement.