Court to consider claims of war crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has reportedly said it may investigate the British military for the first time after allegations that war crimes had been committed.

A BBC Panorama programme claims that killings of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq have been covered up by the state.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the allegations are unsubstantiated.

Leaked documents allegedly contain evidence implicating British troops in killing children and the torture of civilians.

The BBC/Sunday Times investigation said it had obtained new evidence from inside the

“It said it would independently assess the BBC’s findings”

Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT), which investigated alleged war crimes committed by British soldiers in Iraq, and Operation Northmoor, which investigated alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

The government closed IHAT and Operation Northmoor in 2017, after Phil Shiner, a solicitor who had taken more than 1,000 cases to IHAT, was struck off.

Some former IHAT and Operation Northmoor investigators said this was used as an excuse to close down the inquiries.

The ICC has taken the accusations “very seriously”, the BBC said.

“The ICC said it would independently assess the BBC’s findings and would begin a landmark case if it believed the government was shielding soldiers from prosecution,” the corporation said.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Allegations that have been made that the MoD interfered in investigations of the prosecutions are untrue.”