Hard blow for the feared Australian special forces deployed in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016, at the center of an investigation by the Inspector General of the Australian Defense Forces, the conclusions of which were presented today by the
head of the forces Angus Campbell.
The investigation, which lasted almost five years, led by military judge Paul Brereton, recommends that 19 soldiers involved in 36 incidents be investigated by the federal police, for the murder of 39 prisoners and civilians, and for the cruel 'treatment' of two others.
A heavily classified report, with no names or description of incidents, was presented by Campbell, who
offered an unconditional apology to the Afghan people
"for any crime committed by Australian soldiers".
According to the report, none of the incidents reported to the federal police for criminal investigation can be discounted as "questionable decisions made under pressure in the heat of battle. Cases where it has been found that there is credible information of a war crime in which it was clear , or it should have been clear, that the person was a non-combatant. "
Junior soldiers were often ordered by the patrol commander to
kill prisoners to make the first kill
, a practice known as 'blooding'.
Evidence was also established that some of the special forces carried non-ordinance weapons, radios and grenades with them, to be placed near the bodies of killed civilians to suggest they were a 'legitimate target' in any investigation into the incident.
The investigation interviewed 423 witnesses and studied more than 20,000 documents and over 25,000 images as part of the investigation.