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New photos are 'essential evidence' of possible SAS war crimes, inquiry told

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In short

Graphic scene photographs presented to the public inquiry show unarmed victims lying in bed with head wounds, strongly contradicting official claims that SAS soldiers fired only after coming under attack. The evidence supports allegations that soldiers systematically executed unarmed civilians, including teenagers as young as 14 and 15, between 2010 and 2013. A member of an Afghan partner unit specifically reported witnessing a British soldier plant a rifle on an unarmed individual following a fatal shooting. The inquiry is currently reviewing the imagery alongside testimony revealing that senior officers attempted to shut down earlier murder investigations despite unresolved evidence.

Key points

  • Forensic scene evidence strongly contradicts official SAS accounts that the fatal shootin…: Forensic scene evidence strongly contradicts official SAS accounts that the fatal shootings occurred during active firefights with insurgents.
  • Senior military officials prepared to terminate the original 2019 murder investigation wh…: Senior military officials prepared to terminate the original 2019 murder investigation while detectives were still deployed gathering eyewitness accounts.
  • Previous military police requests to conduct formal forensic testing on the suspicious ra…: Previous military police requests to conduct formal forensic testing on the suspicious raid photographs were ignored and never executed.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

- Published

An inquiry into UK special forces operations in Afghanistan has released photos described as "essential evidence", showing soldiers could have executed unarmed people laying asleep.

For the first time, the inquiry has made public photos taken of the deceased, across two SAS operations, that show multiple individuals lying in bed with shots to the head.

The inquiry's lead barrister, Oliver Glasgow KC, said the photos may be evidence of possible war crimes and worthy of expert interrogation.

The public inquiry is examining allegations that the SAS murdered unarmed civilians and detainees on night raids between 2010 and 2013 and planted weapons to cover up the killings.

The graphic photographs show multiple unarmed people lying in bed.

One person was tucked under a floral blanket, others with their heads on pillows, blood pooling around their heads. Blood spatter is visible low on the wall in one of the images, consistent with someone being shot while lying down.

Glasgow described how many "look like they sustained head shots" and in a number of cases "there appears to be a dead…

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