Inquiry Hears UK Special Forces Did Not Refer SAS War Crimes Allegations to Police

A former chief of staff of UK Special Forces told the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan that war crimes allegations against the SAS were not passed to the Royal Military Police in 2011. The officer, identified only as N2252, said the director of UK Special Forces decided against a referral because an investigation could slow operations and affect morale.

He added that some evidence had come from a rival special forces unit.

Instead of a police referral, an internal review was ordered.

It was led by an officer close to the SAS unit under scrutiny and completed in one week, concluding there was no criminal conduct. N2252 stated the director believed a military police inquiry would take too long and that a quick internal review would send a signal to those involved.

In 2011 The inquiry has examined reports from spring 2011 showing multiple operations in which handcuffed individuals were later shot and where the number of people killed exceeded the number of weapons recovered. Afghan special forces refused on several occasions to work with the SAS after alleging civilian deaths, and an international monitoring group also raised concerns.

N2252 said referring the matter to police would have removed SAS sub-units from operations at a time when they were targeting Taliban bomb-makers. A second witness, identified as N1788, said he was never told of allegations of extrajudicial killings or falsified records, though other testimony indicated the possibility had been discussed with him.

A third officer, N889, told the inquiry he may have accepted SAS operational reports too readily.