UK veterans allege war crimes by British forces in Afghanistan, Iraq

Detainees were regularly executed and unarmed radical killed successful their slumber during nighttime raids, according to ex-soldiers.

Former members of the United Kingdom’s peculiar forces person described alleged warfare crimes committed by British soldiers successful Afghanistan and Iraq dating backmost implicit a decade.

More than 30 witnesses who served with oregon alongside peculiar forces soldiers broke their soundlessness to the BBC’s Panorama programme and spoke astir amerciable killings and executions of detainees, including children, during the invasions of the 2 countries.

David Cameron – who was premier curate from June 2010 to November 2013, the play present nether scrutiny by a judge-led nationalist enquiry into peculiar forces – was repeatedly made alert of concerns astir nighttime raids and killings raised by then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to the BBC.

A spokesperson for Cameron said “any proposition that [he] colluded successful covering up allegations of superior transgression wrongdoing is full nonsense”.

The peculiar aerial work and the navy’s peculiar vessel service, the UK’s apical peculiar forces units, were astatine the centre of the testimonies.

“They handcuffed a young lad and changeable him,” recalled 1 seasoned who served with the elite soldiers successful Afghanistan. ”He was intelligibly a child, not adjacent adjacent to warring age.”

Killing of detainees “became routine”, the seasoned said, adding that the soldiers would region integrative handcuffs from executed detainees and works weapons by their bodies to marque it look similar they were fighters successful photographs taken from the scene.

Another seasoned with the navy’s peculiar forces regiment said immoderate work members displayed “barbaric” and “psychopathic” behaviour arsenic they felt untouchable by the law.

One erstwhile worker described the killings arsenic thing that could crook “addictive” arsenic immoderate soldiers became “intoxicated by that feeling” successful Afghanistan.

“On immoderate operations, the troops would spell into guesthouse-type buildings and termination everyone there,” helium said. “They’d spell successful and sprout everyone sleeping there, connected entry. It’s not justified, sidesplitting radical successful their sleep.”

A British worker looks done the scope of a machinegun to observe an country arsenic helium waits for the accomplishment of then-British Foreign Secretary and aboriginal Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his sojourn to Camp Qargha successful Kabul, Afghanistan, successful 2016 [File: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters]

Even wounded radical who did not airs a menace to anyone were executed successful breach of planetary law, witnesses said, speaking connected information of anonymity.

A erstwhile peculiar forces relation said an execution of an unarmed idiosyncratic successful Iraq was ne'er decently investigated, adding that elder commanders were alert of the occupation agelong earlier deploying to Afghanistan.

The BBC besides obtained caller video grounds that showed squadrons kept termination counts to vie with others.

One seasoned said a erstwhile workfellow was trying to get kills connected each azygous operation, having go “notorious” for sidesplitting dozens of people.

Another seasoned said “everyone knew” astir the killings successful the UK peculiar forces bid with testimonies indicating officers would falsify postoperational reports to debar scrutiny.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies