A NUMBER of Australian military commanders have been stripped of their medals for alleged involvement in war crimes during the Afghanistan war, Defence Minister Richard Marles said today.

Following an investigation into alleged misconduct in the war between 2005 and 2016, Major General Paul Brereton recommended that several serving and former commanders be held accountable for the unlawful killings of 39 Afghans.

He found that around 25 soldiers of the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment and the Commando Regiment had been involved in the deaths and recommended that to be investigated for possible charges, including murder.

Australian Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell, who announced Maj Gen Brereton’s findings, said that the record included alleged instances of new patrol members shooting a prisoner to achieve their first kill, a practice known as “blooding.”

He said the soldiers would then plant weapons and radios on the corpses to support false claims that the prisoners had been enemies killed in action.

Mr Campbell told reporters in Canberra that some members of the elite SAS encouraged “a self-centred, warrior culture.”

Speaking in parliament, Mr Marles said: “The allegations which are the subject of the Brereton report are arguably the most serious allegations of Australian war crimes in our history.”

He said he had written to commanders of the units concerned about medals that they had received for their service during the period in which the war crimes allegedly occurred.

The minister did not specify how many he had written to or identify their ranks, citing privacy concerns.

“This will always be a matter of national shame,” he added.

“At the same time, [this is] a demonstration to the Australian people and to the world that Australia is a country which holds itself accountable.”

In May, whistleblower and former army lawyer David McBride was sentenced to almost six years in jail for leaking classified information that exposed allegations of Australian war crimes to the media.

In 2023, former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz became the first veteran to be charged with a war crime.

He is accused of shooting dead a non-combatant in a wheat field in Uruzgan province in 2012.

Also last year, a civil court found that Australia’s most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, had probably killed four Afghans unlawfully when he was an SAS corporal, though he has not been charged with any crime.