- By Eniola Amadu
Ex director of UK special forces and other top military officers tried to suppress information that SAS units were involved in unlawful killings in Afghanistan, a former high-ranking officer has told a public inquiry.
The high ranking officer revealed that the order of command was unable to prevent illegal shootings, including those of two minors, despite warnings issued in early 2011.
The alleged cover-up is one of the most serious allegations presented at the inquiry into claims that three British SAS units carried out the summary killing of 80 people in Afghanistan.
The whistleblower noted that in February 2011, he first raised concerns as regards possible “war crimes” to the director of special forces.
“We could have stopped it in February 2011. Those people who died unnecessarily from that point onwards, there were two toddlers shot in their bed next to their parents … all that would not necessarily have come to pass if that had been stopped,” the officer said, according to freshly released transcripts of evidence provided in secret last year.
According to the officer’s allegation, the incident refers to the grave injuries suffered by Imran and Bilal, the children of Hussain Uzbakzai and Ruqquia Haleem, who were said to have been shot while asleep during a night-time raid on Shesh Aba in Nimruz province in 2012. Their mother and father were killed in the attack.
In a short video in 2023, the children’s uncle Aziz speaking to the inquiry said: “Even to this day, they are grieving the incident that happened to us … We are asking for the court to listen to these children and bring justice.”
The whistleblower revealed that the former director and others tried to conceal information relating to alleged criminality.
“The director … made a conscious decision that he is going to suppress this, cover this up and do a little fake exercise to make it look like he’s done something,” he said.
“It was blatantly clear from the statistics and the patterns that there was something wrong here … I believe he knew it wasn’t … a problem with the TTP,” he said, adding that “The root problem was the intent [to kill].”
According to him, the killings were a “stain” to the special forces reputation and its sacrifice for others.
“We didn’t join UKSF for this sort of behaviour – toddlers to get shot in their beds or random killing. It’s not special, it’s not elite, it’s not what we stand for and most of us, I don’t believe, would either wish to condone it or to cover it up” he said to the inquiry.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence in response said: “The government is fully committed to supporting the independent inquiry relating to Afghanistan as it continues its work, and we are hugely grateful to all former and current defence employees who have so far given evidence.
“We also remain committed to providing the support that our special forces deserve, whilst maintaining the transparency and accountability that the British people rightly expect from their armed forces. It is appropriate that we await the outcome of the inquiry’s work before commenting further.”
