SAS hits back at BBC: We are not child killers

SAS SOLDIERS have shot back at claims by the BBC that rogue units executed innocent civilians in Afghanistan, insisting: “We are not murderers or child killers.”

The allegations aired on Panorama that Special Forces killed unarmed locals, planted guns on them and tortured others in Helmand Province have been branded “fantasy”.

The claims were made by three individuals, including a former military intelligence officer and a major who both served in Afghanistan, as well as a detective investigating 52 deaths of civilians during the conflict.

The Army has launched a probe into how sensitive material on war crime allegations in Iraq and Afghanistan was leaked to the BBC.

SAS soldiers said last night that the corporation’s producers ignored the plethora of surveillance used for Operation Herrick in Afghanistan.

“Let me be clear: we are not murderers or child killers – many of these armchair warriors did not serve in Helmand while others did not step outside the gate,” said one SAS corporal who served three tours in the province. “Yes, we killed people, but they were armed and presented a direct threat to life.

“Everything was filmed by Nimrod surveillance planes and later UAVS [drones].

“If we messed up, our boss would be all over the team and would RTU [return to unit] anyone who broke the rules.”

Up to 300 soldiers from the SAS, SBS and Special Forces Support Group were on the ground at any one time as part of Task Force 42.

They had the job of preventing the Taliban from smuggling weapons and explosives across the Pakistan border, as well as hunting down its leadership.

So-called operations”

“trigger involved teams being flown deep into Taliban-held territory. Once the identity of the high-value target or HVT was confirmed by voice recognition, he would be dispatched by Hellfire missile from an Apache gunship.

The corporal added: “We were allocated grid squares, known as kill boxes. They are away from villages and allow the HVT to be killed in open ground. It was filmed from above. Every word spoken by the team into their headsets was transmitted to the command centre and appeared in a ticker tape format at the bottom of the screen.

“I remember one op in 2006, in which the Nimrod reported that the target had stepped out of the box. We waited for an hour but, while he stood relaying orders to his fighters who were inside the box, we couldn’t engage him.”

One soldier added: “The claims Panorama aired are sensationalist nonsense and fantasy. The men in this regiment would rather die than take the life of a child. The amount of planning that goes into an operation is phenomenal and there are detailed after-action reports.

“Every shot has to be justified and accounted for. You would not be able to cover up killing

innocent people.”