The sun rises as a soldier from the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment Fusiliers covers from a ridge as they conduct a dawn patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand Province, Afghanistan after leaving base Sterga 2, October 2013
A SPECIAL forces officer admitted that the SAS had a “golden pass” for getting away with murder, in new evidence released today from an inquiry into alleged war crimes by British soldiers in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan inquiry held seven closed-door hearings in which members of the special forces gave evidence about night-time raids carried out between 2010 and 2013.
In material released today, one officer, known as N2107, who had access to operational reports about SAS actions, said in an email in 2011 that the SAS seemed “beyond reproach” and had a “golden pass allowing them to get away with murder.”
In another account, a solider known as N1799, said he raised concerns about a unit referred to as UKSF1 after having a conversation about its operations in Helmand Province with one of its members on a training course.
“During these operations it was said that ‘all fighting-age males are killed’ on target regardless of the threat they posed, this included those not holding weapons,” a statement said.
“In one case it was mentioned a pillow was put over the head of an individual before being killed with a pistol.
“It was implied that photos would have been taken of the deceased alongside weapons that the ‘fighting-age male’ may not have had in their possession when they were killed.”
He said that the act of planting “dropped weapons,” allegedly placed next to targets to imply they were armed when shot, was known as “Mr Wolf” and that he had heard it described in this way by at least two or three people.
He said a note he had provided to officers of the conversation was not as “graphic” as what he had actually said, and that executions were referred to “flat packing,” a term which he said was “quite normal in the military world.”
Stop the War convener Lindsey German said: “‘Flat packing them,’ such is the casual way that the SAS described the killing of Afghans.
“‘Golden passes to get away with murder,’ including of children.
“Revealing evidence heard behind closed doors of how Western troops keep the world safe for democracy — or something.”
