Two senior SAS soldiers arrested on suspicion of murder over 2009 Afghanistan incident
Detentions at Hereford headquarters confirmed by Ministry of Defence as wider public inquiry into alleged SAS conduct continues at Royal Courts of Justice
Two senior soldiers from the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) were arrested last week on suspicion of murder in connection with an alleged unlawful killing in Afghanistan in 2009, the Ministry of Defence confirmed on Wednesday.
Military police detained the two men at the SAS headquarters near Hereford, the MoD said, but provided no further comment. Media reports identified the suspects as a lieutenant colonel and a warrant officer second class; those details have not been independently confirmed by the MoD. According to press accounts citing a former Afghan soldier and other unnamed sources, one suspect has been released on bail and one has been told he is no longer part of the investigation.
The arrests relate to an incident alleged to have taken place in 2009 and are separate from a long-running public inquiry into conduct by British forces in Afghanistan. The Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, presided over by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, is sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice and has been examining a range of allegations including claims that SAS soldiers executed unarmed Afghans between 2010 and 2013.
The inquiry has held secret or restricted sessions known as "Green Hearings" to take evidence from witnesses who may face criminal proceedings. Defence representatives for some soldiers have mounted legal challenges to those arrangements, arguing that allowing anonymous testimony and limiting courtroom participation risks evidence being untested. Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army commander, said it was "imperative allegations of this severity are subjected to appropriate scrutiny" and that legal teams were right to question how much weight could be given to anonymous accounts.
The MoD's Witness Legal Team has argued that the judge's direction on witness anonymity breaches the Inquiries Act 2005, a point of contention in the litigation surrounding the inquiry. The independent inquiry has been sitting for about two years and is not expected to return a final judgment before 2027.
Officials have stressed that the new murder investigation falls outside the time frame of many of the allegations under examination by the Haddon-Cave inquiry. The Metropolitan Police and military investigators have previously conducted separate criminal probes into alleged unlawful killings in Afghanistan, and the Ministry of Defence has said it will continue to co-operate with lawful investigations.
No charges have been filed in the recent arrests. The MoD's confirmation of the detentions did not include details on whether other service members are under investigation or whether the matter will be referred to civilian prosecutors. Defence and legal representatives for the individuals cited in media reports did not immediately respond to requests for comment.