British Forces Remain Involved in Unlawful Killing of Afghan Civilians: UK Minister

Wed Feb 21 2024
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LONDON: The British minister for veterans has admitted that the UK Special Air Service (SAS) carried out dozens of unlawful killings of Afghan civilians from 2010 to 2013.

During a public inquiry on Tuesday, Johnny Mercer accepted that elite British forces had killed Afghans in their sleep or during raids at nights.

In his testimony, Mercer talked about his personal links to the SAS, saying many of his friends were killed in operations in Afghanistan.

He said he had tried to find something to reject such acquisitions but failed to do so.

Mercer’s visisted Afghanistan in 2010 before becoming minister for veterans’ affairs, from 2019 and 2021 and again in July 2023.

He said he had received two warnings in 2017 about the seriousness of the acquisitions when he was a member of Parliament and while he was campaigning against a series of claims of misconduct by British troops in Iraq.

He said one warning was from a senior officer while second was from a fellow former soldier both asking him to fabricate evidence to justify the killing of Afghan civilians in Helmand province.

Inquiry counsel Oliver Glasgow told him that he must provide the names of the two soldiers otherwise the investigation process would be hampered.

Mercer told the inquiry committed that he would not reveal the names of the those who had asked him to fabricate the evidence due to integrity.

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