UK minister says allegations of war crimes by SAS will be investigated

British armed forces minister James Heappey has said that any fresh allegations about the behavior of UK Special Forces in Afghanistan will be investigated.

This week, the BBC Panorama released details of its investigation into alleged war crimes. The investigation found new evidence of scores of secret killings by the SAS, and efforts by some of the most senior figures in UK Special Forces to conceal evidence of war crimes.

“We were aware of some of the allegations that I understand to be in this evening’s Panorama. They’ve been investigated, I believe, twice and on each occasion hasn’t met the evidential threshold,” Heappey told UK MPs.

“But, let’s be clear, if there are new allegations, new evidence that comes to light as a consequence of the Panorama investigation and that is then passed to the service police for further investigation, we will absolutely investigate it.

“Nobody in our organisation, no matter how special, gets a bye on the law – and that’s that.”

The BBC identified 54 people shot dead in suspicious circumstances by one SAS unit during one six month tour of Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011. The youngest was described as just 15 years old when he was killed.

“The truth is that in the past 20 years those had military presence here committed such crimes all over our country. It is not limited to just 54,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.