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The SAS has been accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan. For the first time, special forces troops tell Panorama what happened during night raid operations. With Richard Bilton.
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00:00.
00:00.
00:00.
00:00.
00:10.
00:10.
00:10.
00:10.
00:10They were about to break a code of silence.
00:14I've never spoken to anyone about it outside the guys who served on these ops.
00:21.
00:23.
00:24Their words are spoken by actors.
00:30They were totally off reservation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:35I saw it for myself.
00:38.
00:42The Specials were felt in so many dangerous missions.
00:48But news reports indicate that some of his colleagues were committing war crimes.
00:54Everyone knew what was happening.
00:56Everyone knew what was happening.
00:59People were killed.
01:05This is the first time they've shown what happened during the operation.
01:16What they witness.
01:18It was clear that these people were killed in the back.
01:21They were clearly dead.
01:25And the executions, they say, happened right in front of them.
01:30They, ah...
01:31Hungupped the young woman and shotam.
01:35He was clearly a son.
01:38Not until almost old age.
01:44It is the terrible secret that the British state is accused of covering up.
01:52These are dead.
01:55They all need to be done.
02:00Applause.
02:08Applause.
02:22Helmand, in southeastern Afghanistan.
02:26A place where British troops fought and died.
02:34Special Forces conducted hundreds of operations here.
02:38For the past seven years, Panorama has been investigating allegations of war crimes.
02:51We traveled to remote locations and were the first from the UK to visit the sites of suspicious killings.
03:00First, to meet the families of the dead.
03:06His hands were tied at the front. He had been killed.
03:10They had shot him in the corner of his eye and later they had fired a shot at my father's
03:15chest.
03:24We found evidence of terrible crimes.
03:29The murder of unarmed men, women and children.
03:41They had shot the boys in the head. They were placed next to each other.
03:48You could see the wounds.
03:50They had shot him in the head.
03:52They had shot him in the head.
03:56Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement.
04:00After years of disputing Panorama's findings, the government made an announcement in 2022.
04:09My Right Honorable Friend, the Secretary of State for Defence, has commissioned an independent statutory inquiry to investigate and report
04:16on alleged illegal activity by British Armed Forces during deliberate detention operations in Afghanistan.
04:32The public inquiry is investigating many of the SAS operations reported by Panorama.
04:42Including a raid where eight men and a 14-year-old boy were killed.
04:47The SAS said they were targeting a Taliban commander and were fired on first.
04:54But the family say the men were unarmed and in bed.
04:59So, are these the bullet holes?
05:00Yes.
05:01Yes.
05:02I was the
05:03Toodalee, the man was wicked.
05:16I was matched by professionals using weapons by Zちは, I thought that theoretical perm
05:32We anticipate the evidence for the families
05:35will be that they were shot in bed,
05:37most likely when they were asleep.
05:42BBC Panorama visited the compound
05:44and spoke with Habibullah Ali Zai
05:47and filmed the compound.
05:49It was noticed by those making the program
05:52that all but one set of bullet clusters
05:55were less than 75 centimeters
05:58from the height of the floor.
06:02Now we have new evidence
06:05and it comes from British troops who were on the ground.
06:10Special Forces troops usually have a strict code of silence,
06:15but some of those who were on those missions
06:17have agreed to talk to us, to tell us what they saw.
06:27We've spoken to more than 30 sources
06:30who served with or alongside UK Special Forces.
06:36They don't want to be identified,
06:39so their words are spoken by actors.
06:43The squadron was keeping count of how many people were killed.
06:50Certain people in the squadron would keep count of how many
06:55they'd personally kill as well.
07:01If a target had popped up on the list two or three times before,
07:06then we'd go in with the intention of killing them.
07:09There was no attempt to capture them.
07:13Sometimes we'd check we'd identified the target,
07:17confirm their ID and shoot them.
07:21Often, the squadron would just go and kill all the men they found there.
07:26Everyone knew what was going on.
07:28It's not a scout camp.
07:29Everyone knew what was happening.
07:32People were murdered.
07:34I'm not taking away from personal responsibility,
07:36But everyone knew.
07:38So there was implicit approval for what was happening.
07:42The more junior people in the squadron would be under instruction.
07:46He's not coming back to base with us,
07:48or this detainee makes sure he doesn't come off target.
07:56Afghanistan was a tough place to serve.
08:03457 members of the UK's armed forces lost their lives,
08:08and thousands more were injured.
08:11Special forces were there to protect them,
08:14but the regular troops weren't told what happened on the raids.
08:21One MP saw the aftermath for himself.
08:26He was serving with the regular army in Helmand.
08:31The helicopters would go in and there would be the raid or whatever,
08:34and then the next morning you'd often find half the village
08:37blaming you because an entire family had been killed.
08:41That happened very, very often,
08:43so that puts the ground-holding troops obviously
08:45in a very difficult position,
08:46because, understandably, they've got very, very upset Afghan soldiers
08:51and the villagers and elders,
08:54and we don't know anything about it.
09:00The public inquiry is looking at alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
09:04between 2010 and 2013.
09:09Our evidence suggests they went on much longer.
09:14We've spoken to eyewitnesses who say the wrongful killings
09:18and executions took place over more than a decade.
09:21They say the military knew what was going on,
09:24but did nothing to stop the killings.
09:33It started in Iraq.
09:38British troops were part of a US-led invasion
09:41that removed Saddam Hussein in 2003.
09:49An insurgency followed,
09:51and the SAS hunted down those suspected of being involved.
10:03Light on the door for me. Light on the door.
10:09This is previously unseen footage of night raids,
10:13Filmed by one SAS squadron in 2006.
10:35The video's an end-of-tour compilation.
10:39The video's an end-of-tour compilation.
10:50We've spoken to those who served with the SAS
10:51It's a ridiculous metric.
10:54This is simply a bad incentive.
10:58There's nothing good about that incentive.
11:00It's always going to lead to bad behaviors.
11:13We've spoken to those who served with the SAS in Iraq.
11:22There was one operation.
11:26I only became aware of it after the shooting,
11:28where the blocks had clearly executed a man.
11:31That was pretty clear from what I could glean
11:34that he posed no threat.
11:36He wasn't armed.
11:37It's disgraceful.
11:39There's no professionalism in that.
11:44He says the victim wasn't an insurgent.
11:50But it was never properly investigated.
11:55This problem started long before the SAS moved to Afghanistan,
12:00and senior commanders were aware of that.
12:04of the US.
12:09Not all killings in war are the same.
12:15Under both British and international law,
12:19troops shouldn't deliberately kill unarmed civilians
12:22or prisoners of war.
12:25It's cut and dry.
12:27A non-combatant can never be intentionally harmed in war.
12:36The line between a soldier and a murderer.
12:43The difference is that the soldier,
12:46when the soldier has to take another human life,
12:52he or she will do so according to a warrior's code.
12:57They kill according to the laws of armed conflict,
13:03the laws of war.
13:04We have to hold our soldiers to that standard.
13:13Our witnesses say the SAS had already developed a method
13:18of covering up unlawful killings in Iraq.
13:22They planted weapons, known as drop weapons,
13:25on the bodies of those they'd killed
13:27to make it look as if they were armed.
13:30And then took photos to justify the killings.
13:40Iraq was awash with dropped weapons.
13:44You'd see it a lot.
13:46Too many reports of a gun being found by someone's left hand,
13:49things like that.
13:50It's a classic mistake if someone's planting a weapon.
13:54You knew it didn't stack up.
13:56It was widespread.
13:57We all knew what was happening.
14:05We've been told what the SAS did in Iraq,
14:09They did in Afghanistan.
14:12The eyewitnesses say they saw drop weapons being routinely used
14:18to cover up illegal killings.
14:22Absolutely drop weapons were being used.
14:25There was a load of weapons that the guys had handed over
14:28to our guys by the previous squadron
14:30who'd been on deployment just before us.
14:33Some AKs and things like that,
14:36that you could plant on a body.
14:39It took a little while for the officers to work out
14:41exactly what the squadron was up to on operations.
14:45But pretty soon they could be in no doubt.
14:51You'd see a lot more folding stock AKs.
14:55Because of the way they're designed to fold,
14:58they were easier to carry in day sacks.
15:02Easier to bring onto the targets and plant by the body.
15:06To make it look like the person was holding a rifle
15:09when they were shot.
15:11We'd had grenades that didn't detonate.
15:14They wouldn't go off.
15:24The public inquiry has only been looking at allegations about the SAS.
15:31We've been told the Navy Special Forces also committed war crimes
15:37in Afghanistan and used drop weapons to cover them up.
15:46Of the sources we've spoken to, more than ten served with, or alongside,
15:52the Special Boat Service, or SBS.
15:56How did I know they were planted grenades?
15:59I saw the same ones in the SSE photos.
16:02The photos coming back from the oops.
16:03I was like, hang on.
16:05I've seen that before.
16:10One eyewitness says wounded Taliban fighters were routinely killed.
16:16On one operation, a guy had been shot, but he was still breathing.
16:21You know, shallow breaths.
16:24The doctor was standing over him, treating his injury.
16:28He'd been shot a couple of times, but it wasn't life-threatening.
16:34Then one of our blokes came up to him.
16:37And there was a bang.
16:40We'd been shot in the head at point-blank range.
16:45And then the body was just lying there.
16:52Everyone found on target was killed on target, pretty much.
16:56I can't recall us taking a single injured insurgent
17:00back to base for treatment.
17:02They were shot.
17:04There and then.
17:13It was completely unnecessary.
17:16There's a right and a wrong way to act.
17:19These are not mercy killings.
17:22It's murder.
17:29The deliberate killing of injured people not posing a threat
17:33would be a clear breach of international law.
17:39The eyewitnesses say SBS murders carried on after 2013,
17:45well beyond the years the inquiry is looking at.
17:50You could see from the photographs taken on site
17:53that the accounts being given by the SBS guys
17:56to justify certain killings just didn't add up.
18:01They say they'd been caught in a firefight,
18:05but in the photos you'd see these were multiple clean headshots.
18:12One witness was a member of Afghan Special Forces
18:16who served alongside the SBS around 2020.
18:21There was one operation in a remote village.
18:26We were with the British mentors.
18:29We were divided into groups and searched the houses.
18:34But we find nothing.
18:37Maybe we had the wrong target.
18:39But I heard some shots fired from one of the houses.
18:45A boy about 13 or 14 years old was killed.
18:51I was told the British mentors killed him.
18:57I saw pictures of the boy the next day.
19:01They were very graphic.
19:06We were told by British mentors to destroy all the evidence
19:11about what happened that night.
19:19The suspicious killings on Special Forces raids created problems
19:24for the NATO-led coalition known as ISAF.
19:30The night raids and especially those that went wrong
19:33and generated reports of civilian casualties
19:37were a bonus to the Taliban.
19:43They would use that evidence and amplify it
19:45in their information campaign against the government
19:50and against the ISAF forces.
19:52So, all in all, it was a real negative for us
19:57and a positive for the Taliban.
20:03Special Forces squadrons were rotated.
20:06Each tour lasted six months.
20:12The killings peaked in 2010.
20:15with the same squadron that kept a kill tally in Iraq.
20:23In Afghanistan, that squadron killed an average
20:27of 2.7 people on every operation.
20:31Hundreds were killed.
20:39It was all about the beginning.
20:42When the numbers were read out at the morning meeting
20:44at NATO headquarters,
20:46they wanted the SAS Task Force to have high numbers.
20:49It was seen as a metric of success.
20:52It was operation after operation after operation,
20:55going out every night.
20:59It was a good night.
21:03It was a good night.
21:04Our sources say the next squadron to arrive
21:07I wanted to be the one to kill tally.
21:13Early on their tour, they killed a respected local man
21:17who'd served in the Afghan government.
21:21The SAS operational account said he'd grabbed a grenade after being detained.
21:31They handcuffed us and stood us against the wall.
21:34They handcuffed Haji Ibrahim too.
21:36They told Haji Ibrahim to go into the room
21:39because they wanted to search it.
21:41They told Haji Ibrahim to lift up the curtain.
21:44When he entered the room, there were shots.
21:47So, we knew Haji Ibrahim has been killed.
22:01His high-profile death led to direct complaints to the British
22:05from the Afghan president.
22:08But the killing didn't stop.
22:12We've been told this squadron also killed hundreds of people.
22:18On one operation, the troop had gone into the main part of the compound.
22:23It was a family of farmers.
22:26They shot the men in each of the rooms.
22:34Later, we were searching the bodies.
22:38One was quite an elderly man.
22:40This guy's family, the wailing, really distressed.
22:47They'd set the dog on him before they killed him.
22:52You could tell by the family's reaction and the look at the house.
22:57These were civilians.
23:07The witnesses say one member of the squadron personally killed dozens of people on the tour.
23:20It seemed like he was trying to get a kill on every operation.
23:31Every night someone got killed.
23:34He was notorious in the squadron.
23:42He genuinely seemed like a psychopath.
23:52So the officer shot someone on the call-out.
23:55And he told the officer not to shoot him again because he wanted to go and finish the wounded guy
24:01off with his knife.
24:03He wanted to, you know, blood his knife.
24:10I didn't see this, but I was told he would get more junior lads to hold someone down while he
24:22stabbed them.
24:24And not a frenzied knife attack.
24:29But it was clinical.
24:31Like, precise.
24:37Operational reports from the SAS say many details were shot after reaching for weapons.
24:43But our evidence suggests people were killed after surrendering and being handcuffed.
24:53There's nothing that justifies killing a person under control.
24:58They are now prisoners.
25:01They are out of the fight.
25:03To kill them would be murder.
25:16It can be an addictive thing to do.
25:19Kill someone.
25:22These blokes were intoxicated by that feeling of killing people.
25:28Some of the guys we killed genuinely were bad people.
25:34But they were taking pleasure in the brutality and the killing.
25:40Lots of psychotic murderers.
25:49On tour after tour, the Special Forces killings continued.
25:57One of the guys went in and shot a load of people in a row.
26:04They were sleeping.
26:07They were shot one after the other.
26:10I saw it with my own eyes.
26:13Right in front of me.
26:18They switched when they were out on ops.
26:23I saw the quietest guys switch.
26:26Show serious psychopathic traits.
26:29It's like a mob mentality.
26:33Felt like we were going back three, four hundred years.
26:38It was barbaric.
26:41I was totally prepared to shoot someone if they were shooting at me.
26:45I mean, that's different.
26:46They were lawless.
26:48DOOR.stanbul
26:49FRIENDS...
26:59Senior
27:00people were told about the killings but they weren't stopped. We
27:06found evidence of a widespread cover-up lasting years.
27:11The cover-up began with special efforts at the bottom.
27:16It was continued by some of the most senior military officers.
27:20And it was supported by politicians and the Minister of Defense.
27:30Eyewitnesses say official reports have been falsified.
27:34after the united people were killed.
27:38In the main, the squadron operated under the Alpha card.
27:42You needed to be acting in self-defense to justify the shooting.
27:48That's why many of the reports are written the way they are.
27:53It's fiction, but it's written to fit within the rules of engagement.
28:29Yes, I am now.
28:31It's that kind of thing.
28:31It was created for the way it operated.
28:37Warfare assisted by drone feed
28:41They say they were also skipped over for the cover-up.
28:44What is the atmosphere?
28:46It's the movie.
28:48I was watching the operation as it was happening.
28:51There was a heat patch from the thermal imaging where he was
28:55and then a muzzle flash.
28:58The guy wasn't armed. He was caring.
29:01There was no suggestion he was posing any sort of threat.
29:06Afterwards, I was asked to see if I could dig up anything
29:09that connected him to the Taliban.
29:11There was a real bad operation where there was a slippage in time
29:15where our air assets, the I-Star,
29:17no longer had visuals on the vehicle we were tracking.
29:20We lost coverage.
29:22They thought they had spotted the same vehicle,
29:25but we were concerned the details didn't add up.
29:28The guys on the ground went ahead anyway.
29:30The operation's happened and an entire family's been killed.
29:36Later on, from the information we got,
29:39it looks pretty sure that they got the wrong vehicle.
29:45The intelligence officer says after the raid,
29:49The paperwork was falsified.
29:52I know for a fact that report was a lie.
29:56The details were changed.
29:57so it looked like everything was done by the book,
29:59that we never lost sight of the target.
30:03They'd lied on the report.
30:05None of the information about them getting the wrong vehicle
30:08was disclosed,
30:09and I was told to keep shum about it.
30:13In my head, that's red flags going off.
30:21Evidence from military sources and documents
30:24shows very senior officers were warned about potential war crimes.
30:31By law, they're supposed to report suspicions of serious offenses
30:36to the military police.
30:39They didn't do that.
30:43Panorama has previously revealed
30:45they include some of the most high-ranking officers
30:48in the armed forces.
30:51former second-in-command of the British military,
30:54General Sir Gwyn Jenkins.
30:57The former head of the British Army,
31:00General Sir Mark Carlton Smith.
31:02And the former head of UK Special Forces,
31:06Lieutenant General Jonathan Page.
31:10It's the responsibility of an officer coming into possession
31:14of information relating to a crime of this gravity
31:18to report it immediately to the Royal Military Police.
31:22It's not a matter of discretion,
31:24it's a matter of obligation under the law.
31:27Do you think we could see,
31:28we could still see prosecutions of senior military figures
31:33because of the way that they behaved?
31:35Is that possible, do you think?
31:35When I was Director of Service Prosecutions,
31:39if I ever had evidence,
31:40there would have been no question
31:41that I would have directed a prosecution.
31:45Lawyers acting for General Carlton Smith
31:48told us the allegations are entirely groundless.
31:51None of his senior commanders produced any evidence
31:55of unlawful killings in Afghanistan.
31:57And there was no allegation or evidence
32:00that he was aware of to refer to the RNP.
32:06We wrote to General Jenkins and Lieutenant General Page.
32:11They didn't comment.
32:23British Special Forces killed many hundreds of people in night raids.
32:29Some were undoubtedly Taliban fighters.
32:33But the Afghan families we've spoken to
32:36say their relatives were civilians, not insurgents.
32:43One family had four people killed in an SAS raid in 2011.
32:51They tied his hands in front of me.
32:53If you have tied someone's hands, how can they fight?
33:02He was dead, lying face down on the ground.
33:06His head, the forehead area, was shot with many bullets
33:09and his leg was completely broken by the bullets.
33:19The family took legal action against the British government in 2019.
33:26It was a crucial case, but it was almost stopped in its tracks
33:30by false evidence from the MOD.
33:37The court was looking at the way the British state
33:40Investigated the deaths of the four Afghan nationals.
33:46The Ministry of Defense did not disclose the fact that
33:49internal concerns had been expressed
33:52about the activities of the unit involved in the operation.
33:58Three members of the MOD's legal team had to apologize
34:02for the court being misled.
34:13The case was put on hold when the public inquiry started,
34:17but the failure to fully investigate went higher still.
34:23We've been told the then-British Prime Minister
34:26was repeatedly warned about civilians being killed on night raids.
34:36One of our sources was present
34:38when David Cameron met the Afghan president in 2011.
34:43Who was at the meeting?
34:45Prime Minister and his advisers and foreign ministers
34:49from British sides and from our sides,
34:54President Karzai, Foreign Minister, myself.
34:57And did President Karzai say
35:00Are civilians being killed on night raids?
35:03Repeatedly, repeatedly he mentioned that.
35:10Can there be any doubt that David Cameron
35:13was told that UK Special Forces had killed civilians?
35:20I cannot believe that is any doubt.
35:23And what did David Cameron say?
35:26They assure us that it's exceedingly,
35:29but they will talk again and mark on it.
35:35President Karzai was so consistent with his complaints
35:39about night raids, civilian casualties, and detentions,
35:44that there was no senior Western diplomat or military leader
35:49who would have missed the fact
35:51that this was a major irritant for him
35:53and increasingly, over time, a significant political problem.
36:06Despite the repeated warnings, the suspicious killings continued.
36:12If he did go up to those levels
36:15and nothing was done,
36:17which would really surprise me,
36:20then that's reprehensible.
36:22You need to know how far the rock went up.
36:27We wrote to Lord Cameron.
36:30His spokesperson told us that,
36:32to the best of Lord Cameron's recollection,
36:35the issues raised by President Karzai
36:37were with reference to ISAF in general,
36:41and that specific incidents with respect to UK Special Forces
36:45were not raised.
36:48He also said any suggestion Lord Cameron colluded
36:52in covering up allegations of serious criminal wrongdoing
36:56This is total nonsense.
37:11Our evidence shows how the British government undermined a murder investigation
37:17run from a Cornish military base.
37:22Operation Northmore, which was based here at RAF St. Morgan in Cornmore,
37:27was run by the Royal Military Police.
37:30It was set up in 2014.
37:33and it was a team of detectives
37:34looking at allegations against UK forces,
37:38including dozens of suspicious killings on night raids.
37:48So, Operation Northmore was looking at 52 suspected murders.
37:56MOD documents show the government sent in two advisers who took control.
38:03The government was effectively directing
38:06what should have been an independent investigation.
38:11I guess I would like it to
38:13you've got a murder that's happened in London somewhere,
38:16and the Metropolitan Police are investigating,
38:19and the government of the day
38:20decides that they're going to put some external advisers
38:23into that police investigation.
38:25Well, everyone would look at that and go,
38:26That's completely ridiculous.
38:28And that appears to be what's happened here.
38:35MOD documents show the advisors
38:38The detectives then sat in a review team
38:40who stopped the RMP from pursuing key leads.
38:45Detectives wanted to seize the main SAS computer server,
38:49holding messages and operational records.
38:55But they were ordered to recover the data set amicably instead.
39:01The detectives asked special forces for an assurance
39:05that no data is changed, modified or deleted before the handover.
39:11Special forces agreed, but then data was permanently deleted
39:16and the server was never handed over.
39:22The moment one gets to be told things like that,
39:26One starts to get suspicious.
39:29I certainly would have challenged any attempt to deny investigators' access to that material.
39:37If you destroy it, knowing that it is required for the purposes of investigation,
39:44then if all that can be proven, you are doing an act which has a tendency
39:50to pervert the course of public justice,
39:53which is a common law offense and carries extremely serious penalties.
40:08There was more interference with another crucial strand of evidence,
40:14video footage.
40:18The eyewitnesses say special forces raids were filmed.
40:23We'd never go out on a job without I-Star.
40:26One of the air assets would stream footage back to at least one of the ops rooms.
40:31If an officer is not out on the ground, they can watch what's happening.
40:35There are big screens showing the operation unfolding.
40:39My understanding is that the feed coming into the ops room,
40:42the footage of the operation was all recorded.
40:46When I was there, absolutely the rule was,
40:49no operation would happen without eyes in the sky.
40:52They had to have eyes in the sky.
40:58This man was in a unique position.
41:01Johnny Mercer served alongside special forces in Afghanistan
41:06and later became a defense minister in the Conservative government.
41:12He knew SAS raids were filmed
41:15and asked about the footage of the suspect raids.
41:18He told the inquiry the then director of special forces
41:22said it wasn't available.
41:26General Roland Walker is now head of the British Army.
41:32I said to him, where is this stuff?
41:34I remember he leant back and went like that.
41:39So apart from leaning back and apparently shrugging his shoulders
41:42and holding his hands out,
41:43did he offer any explanation to you as to where this material was?
41:48It's not available, Johnny.
41:50Did you press him on that?
41:52I made clear to him that it wasn't plausible.
41:56It was not a plausible explanation to me.
41:59So your take back to the Secretary of State was that,
42:04having been tasked by him to get to the bottom of this,
42:08you could not agree with what you were being told
42:10and you wouldn't sign off on it as accurate?
42:13Correct. I think my words were, something stinks.
42:18We wrote to General Walker.
42:20He didn't respond.
42:24Panorama has discovered Operation Northmore
42:28did obtain some RAF drone footage of special forces raids.
42:33But the RNP couldn't see it because of a software problem.
42:37We've been told that a Ministry of Defense contractor
42:41came here in 2019 to help the Royal Military Police.
42:46The expert contractor said they could supply software
42:49that would allow the detectives to review the footage.
42:53But the RNP never took up the offer
42:56and that crucial footage was never watched.
43:03And now we know why.
43:07High court documents reveal that direction was given
43:11that it was no longer appropriate or proportionate
43:15to continue with this line of inquiry.
43:18Just to be clear, RNP detectives were told
43:22it's not appropriate or proportionate
43:25to look at video evidence that might show murders.
43:35In 2019, Operation Northmore was closed.
43:43The government said the war crimes allegations
43:46had been fully investigated,
43:49even though the video footage hadn't been viewed
43:52and the computer server hadn't been seized.
43:57The reputation of our services is at stake here.
44:02We need to be seen to be on the front foot
44:05in taking it seriously and investigating it
44:09and rooting out the problem.
44:11But did we see that?
44:12No, we didn't.
44:13So I have been constantly surprised
44:16to read the official statements
44:19that have been coming out
44:21from various quarters within the Ministry of Defense.
44:31The then Defense Minister, Johnny Mercer,
44:34agreed to announce the closure of Northmore.
44:38But he was still concerned.
44:41He now believes terrible crimes
44:44may have been committed in Afghanistan.
44:50Johnny Mercer told the inquiry
44:51there was credible evidence
44:53that war crimes had been committed.
44:55He said he was given detailed accounts
44:57by British and Afghan special forces.
45:00Some told him detainees had been executed,
45:04including handcuffed children.
45:09We have not just hearsay or rumour,
45:13there is first-hand evidence
45:15of allegations of the most serious kind.
45:18Correct.
45:19And to be clear,
45:20these are allegations of straight murder.
45:24Yes.
45:26If true, I have absolutely nothing in common
45:28with these individuals
45:29and I totally reject their behavior.
45:38I remain very concerned,
45:40particularly around the killing of children.
45:43Whatever happened on these operations,
45:45kids ended up dead
45:47And people are saying
45:48they don't remember what happened.
45:53One of our eyewitnesses
45:55says he saw child executions
45:57on SAS raids.
46:03They handcuffed a young boy
46:06and shot him.
46:08He was clearly a child.
46:12Not even close to fighting age.
46:16I couldn't believe
46:17what they were doing.
46:20There's no justification for that.
46:23There's not any kind of
46:24advantage to killing children.
46:29This didn't just happen once.
46:35These were kids.
46:42The MOD says it urges
46:44all veterans with relevant information
46:46to come forward to the Afghan inquiry.
46:50It says it's fully committed
46:52to support the independent inquiry
46:55and that it's not appropriate
46:57for the MOD to comment on allegations
47:00which may be within its scope.
47:11Our evidence suggests
47:13A cover-up may be continuing.
47:20It concerns the Afghan special forces
47:23who served alongside the British.
47:27They're known as the triples
47:29and they were on the night raids.
47:35We told the British
47:36we could not support their operations
47:38if they continued to kill civilians.
47:41All the time
47:42we were having meetings with the British
47:44and telling them
47:45They needed to be careful.
47:49They were often alongside
47:51our special operations forces
47:52operating night after night
47:54after night
47:55at a very high tempo
47:56across the country.
47:58So they proved indispensable.
48:01The Afghan special forces
48:04were the best of the best
48:05and very well trained,
48:08very well equipped
48:08and frankly those who fought typically
48:11until the very end
48:12in August of 2021.
48:25When the Americans withdrew
48:27from Afghanistan,
48:28There was panic.
48:31Afghans who'd worked with NATO forces
48:33feared for their lives.
48:37The British government
48:39had set up a scheme
48:40to allow eligible triples
48:42to come to the UK.
48:46But almost all the applications
48:48were turned down.
48:50That's thousands of people.
48:56Some of those rejected triples
48:58have been hunted down
49:00by the Taliban.
49:03We heard some of our triplets.
49:06already killed by the Taliban.
49:08Some of them is
49:09on the jail
49:10at the moment
49:11in Taliban prison.
49:14Some of them,
49:16They are already disabled.
49:17by Taliban.
49:19They are breaking their hand,
49:21their leg,
49:22their head.
49:27Panorama revealed last year
49:29Why the Afghan Triples
49:30were turned away.
49:33UK special forces
49:35had a secret veto
49:36over their applications.
49:42The government
49:43initially denied it,
49:45saying no such mechanism
49:46exists.
49:49We've now obtained
49:50a letter
49:51that proves
49:52they knew
49:52about the veto
49:53all along.
49:55Minister Johnny Mercer
49:57had already warned
49:58senior colleagues
49:59the veto posed
50:00a significant
50:01conflict of interest
50:03that should be
50:03obvious to all.
50:05As it allowed
50:06special forces
50:07to have
50:08decision-making
50:09power
50:09over people
50:11who were
50:11potential witnesses
50:12to the Afghan inquiry.
50:17It looks like
50:18another cover-up.
50:19Some of the Afghans
50:20refused entry
50:21say they were
50:22eyewitnesses
50:23to unlawful killings.
50:24But the inquiry
50:25I can't compel them
50:26to give evidence
50:27if they're not
50:28in the country.
50:31I was very disappointed
50:32after receiving
50:34my rejection.
50:35You know,
50:36We fought together.
50:37against terrorists
50:38in the most difficult
50:39and dangerous operations.
50:43But after leaving
50:44Afghanistan,
50:45the British special forces
50:47easily forgot
50:48about all of us.
50:50Even when we needed
50:52their approval
50:52for asylum.
50:54Now they've rejected us.
50:59these were the people
51:01we had worked
51:01shoulder to shoulder
51:02with,
51:04risked our lives
51:05with.
51:07Everything is clear
51:08now.
51:09They don't want us
51:11in the UK
51:11because of what
51:12We have witnessed this.
51:18We can now reveal
51:20the veto process
51:21was overseen
51:22by one of those
51:23senior officers
51:24officers who failed
51:25to report evidence
51:26of war crimes
51:27to the military police.
51:29General Seguin Jenkins.
51:34He was responsible
51:35for people being
51:37turned away.
51:38Some were tortured
51:40and executed.
51:47This is another aspect
51:48of the cover-up.
51:50The triples
51:51had evidence
51:52of these killings.
51:54They served
51:55alongside
51:55British special forces
51:56and I simply
51:59can't for life
51:59of me understand
52:00why the special forces
52:01were given a veto
52:02as to whether
52:03their refugee status
52:05would be accepted.
52:07Stopping the
52:08Afghan soldiers
52:09who served
52:09with the UK special
52:10forces gaining
52:11refugee status
52:12is just another way
52:13of obscuring the
52:14evidence.
52:23The government
52:24is now reassessing
52:262,000 triples
52:27applications.
52:28Hundreds of those
52:30rejections have
52:30already been overturned
52:32and in a crucial
52:34court case next week
52:35hundreds of others
52:36will find out
52:37if their cases
52:38will be reviewed.
52:42For someone
52:43It's too late.
52:45They are already
52:46touched by Taliban.
52:48They are already
52:48killed by the Taliban.
52:50Who do you blame
52:51for the fact
52:51that they were
52:52Trapped in Afghanistan?
52:53I think it's
52:54ACS.
52:56If those people
52:57Stop them.
52:58Do you think
52:58it's because
52:59of the public inquiry?
53:00Yes, definitely.
53:02That's the only reason.
53:03Hopefully
53:04the British government
53:05investigate that.
53:09The MOD
53:10responded
53:11on General Jenkins'
53:12on behalf.
53:13It says
53:14there's no evidence
53:15any part of the MOD
53:17tried to prevent
53:18former triples
53:19giving evidence
53:20to the inquiry.
53:22It says
53:23anyone can provide
53:24evidence
53:25no matter where
53:26in the world
53:27They are.
53:28the MOD
53:30remains fully
53:31committed
53:31to delivering
53:32on its pledge
53:33to relocate
53:34eligible Afghans
53:35to the UK
53:36and each application
53:38is decided
53:39on its own merits
53:41in line
53:41with UK
53:42immigration rules.
53:45It says
53:46parliamentary statements
53:47have been made
53:48in good faith
53:49and it would be
53:51inappropriate
53:51to comment further
53:53due to ongoing
53:54litigation.
54:05The eyewitnesses
54:06in this program
54:07haven't given
54:08evidence
54:09to the inquiry.
54:13Some fear
54:14they could face
54:15repercussions
54:16for talking
54:17to the inquiry.
54:19Others worry
54:20it won't get
54:22to the truth
54:25but they've
54:26spoken to us
54:27because they
54:28want the public
54:28to know what
54:29they saw.
54:31Some were shot
54:32while they were
54:33running away.
54:34They were suspected
54:35to have a weapon.
54:36Not all were found
54:37though with a weapon.
54:39I saw the SSE photos
54:41you could clearly
54:43I see people had been
54:43shot in the back.
54:46once everything
54:47was under control
54:48as we were moving
54:49through an area
54:49or a compound
54:50a number of the guys
54:52would shoot anyone
54:53who was on the ground
54:54as they were
54:55advancing through.
54:58Neutralising
54:58and moving forward.
55:01It was expected
55:02not hidden.
55:05Everyone knew.
55:12On some ops
55:13the troop would go
55:14into guest house
55:15type buildings
55:16and kill everyone
55:18there.
55:21They'd go in
55:22and shoot everyone
55:23sleeping there
55:24on entry.
55:27It's not justified
55:30killing people
55:31in their sleep.
55:37In some squadrons
55:39in particular
55:40there were some
55:41key individuals.
55:42They were a bunch
55:43of murdering bastards
55:44from long back.
55:47There's no other way
55:48to describe them.
55:54I witnessed
55:55some of the stuff
55:56That was happening.
55:57A lot of people
55:58being killed.
56:01They were clearly
56:02running away.
56:03They were shot
56:03in the back of the head.
56:06The guys
56:07from the squadron
56:08were regularly
56:10killing detainees.
56:11It had become routine.
56:14They'd search for someone,
56:16them, handcuff them,
56:17then shoot them.
56:19They'd cut off
56:20the handcuffs
56:21and plant a pistol.
56:28Our evidence
56:29suggests executions
56:32were covered up
56:33by troops
56:33on the ground
56:36and then
56:36by officers
56:37above them.
56:41I'm talking here
56:42about the allegations
56:44that they captured
56:45civilians,
56:46plastic cuffed them,
56:47took them back
56:48inside the building,
56:49there shot
56:51and killed them.
56:52Sometimes
56:53killed a sleeping
56:54person lying
56:55in bed.
56:56Those things
56:56are just plain
56:58murder.
57:05The Ministry
57:06of Defence
57:07stands accused
57:08of a cover-up
57:09lasting years.
57:13And shutting down
57:15a murder investigation
57:16before it could
57:17Get to the truth.
57:23At times
57:24you could describe
57:25the way
57:25the Ministry
57:25of Defence
57:26acts as
57:27anti-democratic
57:29in the way
57:30they sort of
57:30circle the wagons,
57:31deny everything
57:32and then only
57:33release information
57:33when they're
57:34absolutely
57:35forced to.
57:41we're bound
57:42by the same
57:44rules
57:44as everyone
57:45else in the
57:46military.
57:48These are
57:49murderers.
57:51They should all
57:52be locked up.
57:54I serve
57:55with great people
57:55in Afghanistan
57:58but you can't
57:59let murderers
57:59get away
58:00with it.
58:00to the
58:11people
58:28don't
58:30and
58:33Caption by Adriana Zanotto
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