\n New Zealand will not hold an inquiry into \"discredited\" allegations its special forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Bill English said Monday.\n<\/p>\n
\n A book published last month alleged the SAS staged a \"revenge attack\" in 2010 after the death of a New Zealand soldier, but faulty intelligence meant they killed six civilians including a three-year-old girl.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Hit and Run\", by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, also claimed the military and government covered up the raid's failure, falsely saying nine insurgents had died.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rights groups including Amnesty and Transparency International have called for an independent investigation of the allegations.\n<\/p>\n
\n But English said Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating had looked into the book's claims and found no evidence of wrongdoing.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He's come to the conclusion that (there was) no evidence of misconduct by the troops and no evidence of war crimes. We accept that conclusion,\" English told reporters.\n<\/p>\n
\n He insisted Keating's inquiries were independent because the military chief was not personally involved in the raid.\n<\/p>\n
\n English said he had personally viewed edited video footage of the raid and it showed the troops followed the rules of engagement.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said the classified footage would not be released and refused to discuss its contents.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I'm satisfied that we can trust the Defence Force process and trust the chief of defence forces,\" he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Allegations 'lack substance' -\n<\/p>\n
\n English said New Zealand's SAS was renowned as one of the best special forces units in the world.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The only question mark over their name is a series of allegations of war crimes in a book which has been discredited,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We're not bound to hold an inquiry simply because someone makes allegations, particularly when those allegations turn out to lack substance.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n New Zealand sent a reconstruction team and a small special forces contingent to join the NATO-led operation in Afghanistan in 2003.\n<\/p>\n
\n In early August 2010, Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell became the first of New Zealand's 10 military deaths in Afghanistan when his patrol was hit by a roadside bomb.\n<\/p>\n
\n The SAS raid in the northern province of Baghlan, carried out with US helicopter support, took place about two weeks later on August 22.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the following days Mohammad Ismail, a district chief for Tala Wa Barfak, where the incident occurred, told AFP that eight people died in the raid, all civilians.\n<\/p>\n
\n The New Zealand military initially kept silent about its involvement, then said nine insurgents were killed and no civilians harmed.\n<\/p>\n
\n English on Monday said it was possible the raid resulted in some civilian casualties but such allegations were \"speculation\" with no evidence backing them up.\n<\/p>\n
\n The military has stood by its figure of nine insurgent deaths and says the raid it conducted was carried out several kilometres from the area detailed in the book.\n<\/p>\n
\n Co-author Hager has rejected the assertion and accused the government of perpetrating a cover up by allowing the military to investigate itself.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It's actually asking the people who are trying to hide it and protect their reputations to make the decision, and that's never going to work out right,\" he told TVNZ.\n<\/p>\n
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New Zealand will not hold an inquiry into \"discredited\" allegations its special forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Bill English said Monday. A book published last month alleged the SAS staged a \"revenge attack\" in 2010 after the death of a New Zealand soldier, but faulty intelligence meant they killed six civilians including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-32717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n