Two senior SAS soldiers arrested on suspicion of murder over 2009 Afghanistan killing

Two senior members of 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.

Military police detained the men at the SAS headquarters near Hereford. They are believed to hold the ranks of lieutenant colonel and warrant officer 2nd class. According to reporting by The Sun, the arrests follow allegations made by a former Afghan soldier who served alongside British special forces. The two men have reportedly been released on bail; The Sun said one has already been told he is no longer part of the investigation. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed the arrests took place but declined further comment.

The criminal inquiry is separate from the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, led by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave and sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, which is examining allegations that SAS soldiers were involved in unlawful killings during deployments in Afghanistan. That inquiry has been hearing evidence for two years and is focused on a later period; the alleged murder under investigation by military police falls outside the inquiry's 2010–2013 timeframe.

The Haddon-Cave inquiry was ordered after material emerged suggesting more than 80 unarmed Afghans were killed by British special forces between 2010 and 2013. Some sessions in that inquiry have been held in private, known as "Green Hearings," to allow witnesses to give evidence without members of the public present. The judge's decision to permit anonymous testimony and limited court presence prompted legal challenges from serving and former special forces personnel, who argued the arrangement breaches principles of open justice and prevents evidence being tested in the usual way.

Earlier this month, some SAS soldiers launched a legal challenge against Haddon-Cave's procedures, arguing they were unlawful and risked taking anonymous accounts at face value. The Ministry of Defence's Witness Legal Team has said the judge's ruling may breach the Inquiries Act 2005, which contains protections for witnesses who might later face criminal charges.

Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army commander, said the allegations should be subject to "appropriate scrutiny" and that legal representatives for the soldiers were right to seek to defend their clients' interests and to question the weight given to anonymous accounts.

The Green Hearings are expected to consider allegations including that SAS soldiers shot a Taliban suspect while he was asleep. Under the laws of armed conflict and the soldiers' rules of engagement, military lawyers have said such a suspect should have been arrested and detained, not killed.

The Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan is not expected to return a final judgment before 2027. The military police criminal investigation into the 2009 incident is ongoing; authorities have not disclosed further details about the allegations, the identities of those arrested or the current status of the suspects beyond reports that bail has been granted.

The MoD's confirmation of the arrests was brief, and it has not provided additional information pending the police investigation. The separation between the criminal probe and the public inquiry highlights parallel processes examining alleged misconduct by British forces in Afghanistan: one a judicial public inquiry focused on broader systemic issues and alleged patterns of conduct, the other a criminal investigation into a specific alleged unlawful killing from 2009.