Army
British Troops Face 600 Afghan Abuse Claims
British troops are facing around 600 allegations of abuse relating to operations in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed the claims of ill treatment in the country between 2005 and 2013 were made by 150 people.
They include a complaint by a suspected Taliban bombmaker who argues that his 106 day detention was illegal despite concerns he would build bombs used to kill coalition forces if he was released.
More than 120 military police are looking into the claims as part of a unit set up by the MoD to examine the caseload which is on top of an investigation of more than 1500 allegations of abuse by British forces in Iraq.
An MoD spokesman said:
"Our armed forces are rightly held to the highest standards and, whilst rare, where there are credible claims of criminal behaviour, we should investigate them.”
"An independent investigation is the best way to make sure that innocent personnel are not dragged through the courts without cause - none of the Op Northmoor allegations investigated so far have been referred to the Service Prosecution Authority."
The details of the Afghanistan investigation come after a British soldier facing prosecution over the death of an Iraqi teenager said the Army had “betrayed its finest people”.
Three former and serving Army servicemen have been told they could face court over the death of a 19-year-old near Basra 13 years ago, despite being cleared of wrongdoing in an earlier investigation.
The Prime Minister Theresa May insisted she would not allow an "industry of vexatious allegations" against British troops over claims of abuse in Iraq.
However, Conservative MP and former Army officer Tom Tugendhat said she must take tougher action against spurious claims.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: "I think Theresa May has started in exactly the right place, I'm extremely pleased with what she's done. But she does have to go further and where I'm hoping she is going to go further is she is going to be extremely robust in making sure that legal action is taken against these sort of things.”
"Too much in the last five or 10 years has been settled. If you look at the history, since Kosovo in fact, the Ministry of Defence has settled actions and created precedents when really it should have fought them and pushed back much, much harder."
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