London, 16 December 2022 (GNP): The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence decided to probe into the alleged killing of eight innocents Afghans by its Special Forces in 2011 and 2012.
Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, the senior presiding judge for England and Wales under the Inquiry Act of 2005, will chair this inquiry at the beginning of next year commissioned by Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace.
This Inquiry is initiated due to the two ongoing two judicial reviews that confirmed that these unlawful activities of British Special Forces were not properly investigated.
Wallace said that several probes have already been carried out into these two events of 2011 and 2012, but if there is something unknown to us, that should be brought to the fore.
The Defence Secretary said they would investigate all the matters in detail so that nothing is left hidden. Still, at the same time, we would like to protect our personnel from repeated investigations.
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Meanwhile, the families of eight Afghans allegedly killed by UK Special Forces welcomed this Inquiry.
Tessa Gregory, whose law firm Leigh Day represents the bereaved families of these killed people, said that the extrajudicial killings by British and Afghan armed forces are a very grave and serious matter that needs to be investigated properly and seriously to avoid any bad and contemptible situation like this in future.
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The Defence Minister also reaffirmed his Conservative party stance to protect and safeguard the British servicemen and civil officers, both retired and serving, from the vexatious litigations whose sole is to demoralize and harass them.
The opposition party, the Labour Party leader shadow Defence Minister, John Healey, said that these allegations are baseless. Still, a proper Inquiry carried out in all respects would remove this tarnish from the brave British Forces and will raise the morale of our Armed Forces who sacrifice their lives for them.
