Special forces chief knew UK soldiers were executing Afghans but covered it up'

"The head of the UK's special forces (UKSF) knew soldiers had probably committed war crimes in Afghanistan but failed to act and conducted a fake exercise to cover it up, according to damning new testimony. One of the most senior special forces officers in the British Army told the Afghan war crimes inquiry that he first raised concerns that Afghans were being killed unlawfully and that stories were being invented to disguise the deaths in February 2011."

"In a new batch of documents released by the inquiry, the senior officer, known only as N1466, said he tried to get the special forces chief to act, but instead, the director conducted a fake exercise of a review that did not get to the bottom of what was happening. He told the independent inquiry in secret evidence sessions: I will be clear we are talking about war crimes. N1466, who was the assistant chief of staff for operations in UKSF headquarters between 2010 and 2011, said he first became concerned about reports of Afghans being killed on operations around February 2011, when the deaths didn't tally with the number of weapons recovered"

New testimony indicates the head of the UK's special forces knew soldiers had probably committed war crimes in Afghanistan but failed to take effective action and instead oversaw a fake exercise to conceal events. A senior officer identified as N1466 raised concerns in February 2011 after observed deaths did not match the number of weapons recovered. N1466 attempted to prompt intervention from the special forces chief but says the response was a staged review that did not investigate properly. The inquiry has released documents and held secret evidence sessions where these claims were made. N1466 served as assistant chief of staff for operations at UKSF from 2010 to 2011.

Read at www.independent.co.uk