Special forces conducted campaign of murder against Afghan civilians, probe told

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} UK special forces were conducting a “campaign of murder” against Afghan civilians while senior officers and personnel at the Ministry of Defence “sought to prevent adequate investigation”, an inquiry has heard. On Wednesday, Richard Hermer KC, speaking on behalf of the families represented by Leigh Day solicitors, said the MoD spent “many years” attempting to keep information from the public domain about alleged unlawful killings. Serving military personnel, with extensive experience of the grim and bloody reality of war, were the ones expressing alarm about what was going on Richard Hermer KC “You may come to conclude, dependent upon the evidence, that their actions, and inaction, allowed suspected war crimes to continue; they enabled the suspected perpetrators to escape accountability; and they contributed directly to further unnecessary and avoidable losses of civilian lives.” Mr Hermer continued: “These allegations are not the construct of lawyers, or media reportage, nor are they, in the main, premised on the accounts of victims or their family members. “Serving military personnel, with extensive experience of the grim and bloody reality of war, were the ones expressing alarm about what was going on.” Mr Hermer said Afghan families had been thwarted by the MoD’s “apparent concealment and destruction of relevant evidence”.