UK Special Forces War Crimes Inquiry

97 million. That's how many new documents the

Ministry of Defence have found which could be useful in an

investigation into allegations of war crimes by UK Special

Forces in Afghanistan. This inquiry is years in the making

already, but could this mammoth amount of documents

derail the whole thing? Let's start with the inquiry.

It's an independent inquiry, and it's looking into allegations that

UK Special Forces killed Afghans as a matter of

practice during deadly night raids in a period between

2010 and 2013, not in the heat of battle, but in

cold blood. And it's also exploring whether those

crimes were

covered up. Now in its fourth year, having already cost a reported 58

million pounds, and examined huge amounts of evidence

and witness testimony,

to find out that the MOD hadn't disclosed 97 million

documents, well, here's what the inquiry's chair had to

say.

This is troubling and regrettable,

and if not rapidly addressed and managed,

has the capacity to delay the important work of this inquiry.

It will be recalled that this is by far not the f- first time,

first occasion when the MOD have been held to account for

serious delays in disclosure.

The documents emerged in July, and in August, the MOD informed the

inquiry by letter, and the chair described their attitude as

somewhat casual. The MOD's explanation is that the

files had previously been missed because the initial searches carried out on a

database didn't account for specific naming

conventions. They reckon all 97 million won't be

relevant

to the inquiry, but there's no way to know that just yet.

The MOD apologized and said it deeply regrets the failure to

engage more promptly. All this is serious because

not only is this a highly complex and sensitive issue, but

this inquiry is already well advanced.

Plus, there's a deadline for next April for

when hearing all

evidence must be complete. The chair wants to stick to that deadline,

but with so much potential new evidence, 97 million new

documents, it's hard to see how they can stick to

that timetable.

But do you know why else this matters so much?

Because these are serious allegations that UK Special

Forces killed Afghans with impunity.

We're talking about our best soldiers, the cream of the crop, the ones who

carry out the most high-risk operations for this country.

That they took part in extrajudicial killings when they ought to have

set a global standard is shocking.

Sky News' own investigation into this has heard from a number of individuals who

told us they served in Afghanistan, and they themselves took

part and watched others kill unarmed Afghans.

And if you've got any information or leads about this story, you can email

me at

Sadia.Chowdhury@sky.uk.