Top commanders in Britain's elite Special Air Service (SAS) deliberately concealed evidence of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, a high-ranking officer has revealed to a public inquiry in London. The testimony alleges a cover-up at the highest levels of one of the world's most respected military units.

The revelations from the officer, identified only as N1466, strike at the heart of military justice and accountability. For Kenya and other nations contributing to international peacekeeping missions, this inquiry raises urgent questions about the oversight of soldiers operating far from home and the courage required to expose wrongdoing within the ranks.

Officer N1466, a former assistant chief of staff for UK Special Forces, testified that he passed "explosive" evidence of "criminal behaviour" to the director of special forces in 2011. He noted that the subsequent director, who took command in 2012, was also aware of the problem but failed to act. "It was 'not just one director that has known about this'," he stated, adding that the leadership was "very much suppressing" the allegations.

A Wall of Silence at the Top

The core of the accusation is that commanders failed to report the potential crimes to the Royal Military Police (RMP), a legal requirement under British military law. This failure, N1466 argued, allowed the alleged unlawful killings to continue until 2013. "We could have stopped it in February 2011," he told the inquiry in a closed session.

The Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan is examining allegations that SAS units were responsible for dozens of extra-judicial killings between mid-2010 and mid-2013. The officer's concerns were reportedly first raised by a disturbing pattern in mission reports.

• Disproportionate Killings: The number of enemies reported killed was suspiciously higher than the number of weapons recovered from the scene.
• Implausible Reports: Official accounts of captured detainees suddenly grabbing for weapons or grenades to attack their captors were described as not credible.
• Direct Accusations: N1466 was blunt in his assessment, telling the inquiry's lawyers, "I will be clear we are talking about war crimes... we are talking about taking detainees back on target and executing them with a pretence."

The inquiry, chaired by Lord Justice Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, was ordered by the UK's Ministry of Defence after media reports brought the scale of the allegations to light. It aims to determine if credible information of unlawful killings was ignored and if a cover-up took place.

The testimony from N1466 is considered highly significant as he is the most senior former special forces officer to allege a cover-up. His decision to speak out, he explained, was a matter of principle. "It's not loyalty to your organisation to stand by and to watch it go down the sewer," he stated.