Right villages, wrong location in book, Hager admits
The odds of an inquiry into whether elite Kiwi troops killed civilians in an Afghanistan raid look increasingly slim after Bill English said allegations of war crimes looked ‘‘quite far-fetched’’.
Speaking to media yesterday, the prime minister said ‘‘there hasn’t been any credible evidence presented that there were any civilian casualties’’ but he remained open to reviewing any new evidence following the release of the book, Hit and Run.
On Monday, Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating acknowledged for the first time that civilians may have been killed in a raid in 2010, after earlier saying an investigation found the allegations were ‘‘unfounded’’.
‘‘The Defence Force has outlined where it went, the nature of the operation, it’s referred to how they conducted their operations in order to prevent any civilian casualties. The allegation of war crimes in that context looks quite far-fetched,’’ English said.
‘‘You don’t have an inquiry just because someone’s decided to make allegations to sell a book.’’
English’s comments come on the back of the two authors yesterday conceding the attacks were at a different location from the position given in their book.
In a statement, Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson said the claims in Hit and Run were still accurate despite the raids taking place two kilometres away.
‘‘We have checked the NZDF maps ... and it appears the location of the raid and the villages is indeed slightly different to what our local sources told us. But the villages at that location are definitely called Naik and Khak Khuday Dad, and all the rest of the story in the book is unchanged.
‘‘Likewise the photos in the book of the villages attacked in the raid are correct, as are the photos of the victims and destroyed houses,’’ Hager said.
The location was a ‘‘minor detail’’ and difficult to establish in mountains with no roads or detailed maps, he said.
‘‘Contrary to what Keating said, the central premise of the book is that the actions of the SAS and its allies in the villages of Naik and Khak Khuday Dad led to civilian deaths and injuries, destruction of houses, neglect of wounded people and then a cover up – and none of that has changed.’’
Lawyers acting for the Afghan villagers say they have confirmed with their clients that the locations stated in the book are wrong.
In a letter to English, the lawyers said the villagers agreed that the raid happened in the location identified by the NZ Defence Force earlier this week, but disputed it was a village called Tirgiran.
‘‘’Tirgiran’ is not a village, and therefore ‘Tirgiran Village’ does not exist,’’ the letter stated.
Hager and Stephenson disputed almost all of the evidence raised by Keating, including the Defence Force’s claim the SAS raid occurred in a village called Tirgiran, not the villages named in the book.
‘‘This is not true. The locals know the names of their own villages and they are called Naik and Khak Khuday Dad. The raid occurred there,’’ Hager said.
He also criticised Keating for not addressing the ‘‘deaths and injuries suffered by children, mothers and elderly people who were obviously not insurgents which are the most important allegations in the book’’.