Eighty Afghans may have been victim of summary killings by three separate British Special Air Service (SAS). units operating in the country between 2010 and 2013, lawyers representing the bereaved families have told a public inquiry.
One of the elite soldiers is believed to have “personally killed” 35 Afghans on a single six-month tour of duty as part of an alleged policy to terminate “all fighting-age males” in homes raided, “regardless of the threat they posed.”
The fresh claims are cited in a document submitted by the law firm Leigh Day, based on previous Ministry of Defence (MoD) court disclosures, to a new public inquiry into allegations of war crimes committed by SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.
Between June 2011 and May 2013, 25 suspicious deaths were recorded by the lawyers, which included an allegation that in one SAS raid, which “resulted in the deaths of 4/5 Afghans,” only one grenade was found.
Full hearings are expected to start in the autumn, but on Wednesday and Thursday Haddon-Cave will decide on a request from the MoD to hold large parts of it secret, without members of the press or public present.
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