UK veterans break silence on ‘barbaric’ killings in Iraq, Afghanistan
Dozens of former members of the UK’s Special Forces have come forward with eyewitness accounts of war crimes committed during the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the execution of civilians, detainees, and even children.
Breaking years of silence to provide eyewitness accounts to the “Panorama” investigative program, multiple veterans reported that their colleagues had killed people in their sleep, executed detainees — including children — and planted weapons to justify the murders.
The veterans described how members from the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) would routinely kill unarmed individuals often while handcuffed or asleep.
“They handcuffed a young boy and shot him,” one former SAS soldier, who served in Afghanistan, recalled. “He was clearly a child, not even close to fighting age.”
Another veteran said that killing detainees “became routine.”
“They’d search someone, handcuff them, then shoot them,” and later cut off the handcuffs and “plant a pistol” on the body, he added.
Another SAS witness said the killing “could become an addictive thing to do” and called some comrades “psychotic murderers.”
“They’d go in and shoot everyone sleeping there, on entry. It’s not justified, killing people in their sleep.”
Eyewitnesses also say soldiers used “drop weapons” to fake scenes and cover up unlawful killings.
“There was a fake grenade they’d take with them onto a target,” one said. Others described carrying AK-47s to plant by bodies.
For the first time, the Royal Navy’s SBS is also accused of executing unarmed and wounded people.
A former SBS soldier described the actions of some troops as “barbaric”. “I saw the quietest guys switch, show serious psychopathic traits. They were lawless. They felt untouchable.”
The soldiers say civilians and suspects were often killed even when there was no threat.
“If a target had popped up on the list two or three times before, then we’d go in with the intention of killing them,” one SAS veteran said. “Often the squadron would just go and kill all the men they found there.”
Another SAS witness said the killing “could become an addictive thing to do” and called some comrades “psychotic murderers.”
“They’d go in and shoot everyone sleeping there, on entry. It’s not justified, killing people in their sleep.”
Eyewitnesses also say soldiers used “drop weapons” to fake scenes and cover up unlawful killings.
“There was a fake grenade they’d take with them onto a target,” one said. Others described carrying AK-47s to plant by bodies.
Post-operation reports were often falsified with help from senior officers.
“We understood how to write up serious incident reviews so they wouldn’t trigger a referral to the military police,” one veteran said.
The new testimony includes allegations of war crimes stretching over more than a decade, far longer than the three years currently being examined by a judge-led public inquiry in the UK.
The testimony, from more than 30 people who served with or alongside UK Special Forces, builds on years of reporting into allegations of extrajudicial killings by the SAS.
Panorama can also reveal for the first time that then Prime Minister David Cameron was repeatedly warned during his tenure that UK Special Forces were killing civilians in Afghanistan.
The testimony, as well as new video evidence obtained from SAS operations in Iraq in 2006, also supports previous reporting that SAS squadrons kept count of their kills to compete with one another.
