The uncomfortable truth about SAS night raids must be aired

In 2012 an SAS unit shot dead three youngsters and an 18-year-old while they were drinking tea during a night raid in Helmand province, Afghanistan. The incident caused such an outcry that families of the victims were taken on by British lawyers. This led the Royal Military Police (RMP) to investigate an SAS night-raid killing for the first time. Then, in October 2014, the law firm Leigh Day claimed the British Army had murdered four members of the same family during a night raid on their home in February 2011. The RMP opened a new investigation. This time a whistleblower known only by the cipher N1466 came forward.

N1466 was a highly credible individual. He alerted RMP detectives to a practice of “blooding in” SAS recruits by ordering them to shoot prisoners and alleged there was a competition over how many people were killed. He questioned why so many victims were found in their bedrooms and why their guns were laid carefully “parallel to the body”. An investigation by our Insight team today lays bare how this whistleblower’s intervention blew the lid off allegations of illegal behaviour by special forces soldiers. The Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan, chaired by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, is now trying to establish whether there is credible evidence that the British Army unlawfully killed people in Afghanistan.

• The SAS murders: how a senior officer exposed a war crime cover-up

Most people will appreciate the extreme challenges faced by our armed forces and be grateful for their service. But soldiers’ safety can be affected by the conduct of those who have gone before them. This inquiry must be allowed to carry out its work unimpeded and reveal the truth about what happened.