War Veterans Break Silence on War Crimes by UK Forces in Afghanistan, Iraq

In testimony aired by BBC Panorama, over 30 veterans described witnessing or learning about extrajudicial killings, including the execution of unarmed detainees and civilians by Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) personnel.

One SAS veteran recounted: “They handcuffed a young boy and shot him. He was clearly a child, not even close to fighting age.”

The killings reportedly became routine. “They’d search someone, handcuff them, then shoot them,” he said. Operators allegedly removed the handcuffs and planted weapons to fabricate evidence.

The accounts span more than a decade—far beyond the current three-year period under investigation by a UK public inquiry.

The SBS was also implicated for the first time in allegations of executing unarmed and wounded people. A veteran described a "mob mentality" among SBS troops. “They were lawless. They felt untouchable,” he said.

Panorama’s findings build on earlier investigations, revealing that former Prime Minister David Cameron was repeatedly warned about civilian killings by UK Special Forces in Afghanistan.

Despite international law prohibiting the intentional killing of detainees or wounded individuals, testimonies described deliberate executions, including one in which a medic was treating a wounded man before another soldier shot him in the head. “These are not mercy killings. It’s murder,” said one SBS veteran.

According to witnesses, more junior soldiers were sometimes instructed to kill detainees under vague commands like “he’s not coming back to base.”

A former SAS operator spoke of a 2006 Iraq mission where someone was executed despite posing no threat. “It’s disgraceful,” he said. “There’s no professionalism in that.”

New video evidence supports allegations that SAS squadrons competed by keeping personal kill counts. One soldier reportedly sought to make a kill on every mission and once slit the throat of an injured Afghan man to "blood his knife," a former colleague claimed.

Veterans said such practices were broadly known within UKSF command. “Everyone knew,” one stated. “There was implicit approval for what was happening.”

Operators carried drop weapons, including inert grenades and compact AK-47s, to stage scenes for post-operation photography.

Post-mission reports were reportedly manipulated to avoid triggering military police investigations. “We understood how to write up serious incident reviews,” one veteran said. Officers allegedly assisted by suggesting edits that justified suspicious shootings.

The reports were “a fiction,” another said. An intelligence officer confirmed seeing reports citing firefights, though photos showed clean headshots on corpses.

Concerns about civilian casualties were consistently raised by Afghan officials. Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghanistan’s former national security adviser, said president Hamid Karzai repeatedly informed David Cameron of the issue.

General Douglas Lute, former US ambassador to NATO, said it was “extraordinarily unusual” that such claims would not reach the British chain of command.

A spokesperson for Lord Cameron said Karzai’s complaints referred generally to NATO operations and not specifically to UKSF. They rejected allegations of any cover-up.

Unlike other NATO nations, the UK provides no parliamentary oversight of its special forces. Responsibility lies with the prime minister, defense secretary, and UKSF leadership.

Bruce Houlder KC, former director of service prosecutions, said the inquiry must determine how far knowledge of unlawful killings extended. “You need to know how far the rot went up,” he said.