Emails about SAS shootings of Afghans ‘never withheld’

Steve Bird

CLAIMS that the Ministry of Defence withheld emails suggesting an SAS unit “executed” civilians have been censured because the documents were independently reviewed four times and there was no evidence to bring a prosecution.

The MOD has been ordered by a High Court judge to submit a witness statement explaining why the documents that appear to show war crimes being committed in Afghanistan in 2011 were not released years ago.

The internal emails between senior special forces officers expressed concerns about the killings of 33 people in 11 night raids over three months by an SAS unit. The messages appear to suggest 10 similar incidents in which men were shot in their homes after surrendering. In those incidents, special forces soldiers from an unnamed unit claimed the men they shot had attempted to grab a weapon.

One email from a senior officer in the regiment described the claims as “explosive” and “disturbing”, adding that he feared a “deliberate policy” to kill “fighting-aged males”.

The emails were disclosed shortly before another High Court hearing being brought by Saifullah Yar, an Afghan man in his late 20s, who is seeking an independent investigation into the deaths of four of his family who were shot by the SAS in 2011.

The MOD last night rejected the suggestion the emails had been deliberately withheld at an earlier hearing, adding that the documents had been included in a series of subsequent investigations and independent reviews.

An MOD spokesman said: “This is not new evidence, and this historical case has already been independently investigated by the Royal Military Police as part of Operation Northmoor.

“It has also been subject to four reviews conducted by an independent review team. These documents were considered as part of the independent investigations, which concluded there was insufficient evidence to refer the case for prosecution.”