Image copyright
Reuters
At the height of the war in Afghanistan in 2011, two senior officers from Special Forces fulfilled in a bar in Dorset to have a secret conversation. They feared some of the UK’s most highly-trained troops had actually embraced a “purposeful policy” of unlawfully killing unarmed males. Proof is now emerging that recommends they were right.
The 2 senior officers were countless miles from the dust and risk of Helmand province in Afghanistan.
One had recently returned from the war where his soldiers reported their understanding that a policy of execution-style killings was being performed by Unique Forces.
The other had actually been at head office, reading reports from the frontline with growing concern. They revealed a sharp rise in the variety of “opponents killed in action” (EKIA) by UK Unique Forces.
This instruction note is thought to have been composed by one of the most senior officers in UK Unique Forces.
Special Forces are the UK’s elite professional troops, encompassing both the SAS (Special Air Service) and the SBS (Special Boat Service).
After the discussion, a rundown note thought to have actually been composed by among the most senior members of UK Special Forces was missed the chain of command.
The message contained clear warnings for the highest levels of Unique Forces and concluded that these “worrying” accusations merit “deeper examination” to “at worst case put a stop to criminal behaviour”.
The files were released to lawyers Leigh Day, as part of an ongoing case at the High Court, which will rule on whether claims of unlawful killing by UK Unique Forces were examined appropriately.
The guy bringing the case is Saifullah Ghareb Yar. He states that four members of his family were assassinated in the early hours of 16 February 2011.
It follows a BBC Panorama program last year, which reported on the deaths. The program dealt with the Sunday Times Insight team to reveal evidence of a pattern of prohibited killings by UK Unique Forces.
The government preserves that the 4 members of Saifullah’s household were killed in self defence.
Now correspondence in the newly-released documents reveals that some had severe issues about the UK Special Forces objective.
Simply hours after the elite soldiers had actually gone back to base, other British soldiers were exchanging e-mails explaining the events of that night as the “latest massacre”.
‘ Shaking with fear’
At 01: 00 in Nawa, rural Helmand, on 16 February 2011, Saifullah’s family were asleep in their home.
They woke suddenly to the noise of helicopter rotors, followed by screaming through megaphones. Saifullah was still a teen but he was about to find himself in the middle of a Special Forces “kill or capture” objective.
Saifullah’s uncle, Mohammed Bang, was the only person to be apprehended throughout the raid on the household home.
These “night raids” were a common technique at the time. They were generally performed in partnership with Afghan forces under cover of darkness. Their function was to target senior members of the Taliban.
” My whole body was shaking due to the fact that of the worry. Everyone was scared. All the ladies and kids were sobbing and yelling,” Saifullah informed BBC Panorama.
He explained how his hands were tied and he was put in a holding area with the females and children. He had actually not been there for long when he heard gunfire.
After the soldiers had left, the bodies of his 2 bros were found in the fields surrounding their home. His cousin had been shot dead in a neighbouring structure.
Returning into his house, Saifullah discovered his dad, lying face down on the ground.
” His head, the forehead area, was shot with lots of bullets, and his leg was completely broken by the bullets,” he said.
Last year, Panorama exposed how the i