UK Inquiry Releases Photos From SAS Afghanistan Night Raids

A public inquiry into alleged killings by UK special forces in Afghanistan released photographs this week showing people lying in bed with gunshot wounds to the head, according to BBC News. The inquiry's lead barrister, Oliver Glasgow KC, told the hearing the images may be evidence of possible war crimes.

What do the new photos show?

The photographs, made public for the first time this week, were taken across two SAS operations and show multiple unarmed people lying in beds, per the BBC. One body was covered by a floral blanket; others had their heads on pillows with blood pooling around them, the outlet reported. Blood spatter low on a wall in one image is consistent with a person being shot while lying down, according to the BBC's description of the evidence shown to the inquiry.

When did the raids happen, and how many died?

The two operations under scrutiny took place in Helmand province in 2011, part of a broader set of SAS night raids conducted with Afghan special forces between 2010 and 2013, per the inquiry's terms as reported by the BBC. Seventeen people were killed across those two 2011 operations. The youngest victim in each operation was 14 and 15 years old, respectively, according to the BBC's reporting on inquiry testimony.

Why weren't the photos tested sooner?

Lt Col John Harvey, who led the military police's murder investigation at the time, told the inquiry the photographs "didn't look right," the BBC reported. His team repeatedly requested the images be submitted for forensic testing, but that testing never happened, according to the inquiry evidence cited by the BBC. One investigator, speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, said "bullet marks on the walls so low to the ground appeared to undermine the special forces' version of events."

"Many look like they sustained head shots... there appears to be a dead body with his head on a pillow." — Oliver Glasgow KC, the inquiry's lead barrister, per BBC News

How does this connect to the 2022 Panorama investigation?

BBC Panorama first investigated the allegations starting in 2022, reporting on four raids that killed 26 people and prompting the UK government to establish the public inquiry that year, according to the BBC. Panorama's reporters visited the same guesthouses where this week's released photographs were taken, and were the first British investigators to visit the shooting sites — despite a five-year military police probe that preceded them, the BBC reported.

What happens next in the inquiry?

The inquiry is now subjecting the photographs to expert forensic analysis, according to the BBC, with Glasgow saying further testing may determine whether victims were "shot when asleep." Official special forces accounts cited by the inquiry claim Taliban insurgents fired first, forcing SAS troops to return fire — an account the newly surfaced images appear to contradict, per the BBC's reporting. No findings on individual culpability have been announced as the inquiry continues taking evidence.

By the numbers: 17 killed across two 2011 Helmand operations; 14 and 15, the ages of the youngest victims in each; 26 killed across four raids examined in Panorama's 2022 investigation; five years, the length of the original military police probe that never forensically tested the photos — all figures per BBC News, November 2026.

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