UK opens inquiry into unlawful killing claims in Afghanistan

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A senior judge has launched an independent inquiry to investigate whether U.K. military police covered up or did not properly probe allegations of unlawful killings by British armed forces during operations in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013. The inquiry was ordered by Britain’s government after the families of eight Afghans who were allegedly murdered by British Special Forces in Afghanistan launched legal challenges. Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said he and his team will “get to the bottom” of whether investigations carried out by the Royal Military Police into the alleged killings were adequate. The inquiry will also review whether the deaths “formed part of a wider pattern of extra-judicial killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan.”