The ADF investigators concluded that the Afghan was lawfully killed because he posed a direct threat to the Australians.įour Corners can reveal that the SAS soldier who killed Dad Mohammad is still serving in the special forces.ĭefence did not answer Four Corners' questions about Dad Mohammad's killing and other allegations of war crimes. However, the video shows Dad Mohammad still and quiet on the ground for more than 20 seconds, before the soldier, standing over him, shoots him three times from fewer than 2m away. Soldier C also claimed he fired from 15 to 20 metres away in self-defence. The SAS soldier who shot Dad Mohammad claimed the Afghan had been shot because he had been seen with a radio.īut the footage does not show any radio, only the prayer beads in the man's hand. The killing of Dad Mohammad was investigated by the Australian Defence Force in the wake of a complaint from tribal elders.īut what the video obtained by Four Corners shows, and what ADF investigators were told by soldiers, are two very different things. I saw the wheat field where he was killed, the wheat was flattened all around." "After his burial, I came back to see the place. I covered his face and told them to take him to the graveyard," Abdul Malik said. He said his son was married, with two daughters.Ībdul Malik was away when Dad Mohammad was killed, and said he returned immediately to bury his son. Video is at odds with what soldiers told investigatorsįour Corners tracked down Dad Mohammad's father, Abdul Malik. "That soldier there is not someone I saw do anything like that, and he didn't usually act like that either," he said. It's a straight-up execution."Ĭhapman said he was shocked by what he saw on the video. "He's asked someone of a superior rank what he should do, but it comes down to the soldier pulling the trigger. "It's just a straight-up execution really," he said. 'It's just a straight-up execution'īraden Chapman was a signals intelligence officer with 3 Squadron SAS on that 2012 deployment, but was not a witness to the killing. The dead man's name was Dad Mohammad, and he was thought to be 25 or 26 years old. Soldier C fires the first shot into the Afghan man on the ground.Īs the dog streaks towards the prone man, and the handler calls for him to come back, the soldier pumps two more bullets into the victim.įewer than three minutes has elapsed between the SAS landing their chopper, and the killing in the wheat field. The patrol commander's response is inaudible on the video. The soldier asks the commander a second time: "You want me to drop this c***?" Hit ***** up," replies the dog handler, referring to the patrol commander, who has taken up a position nearby. He is still, as the soldier keeps the weapon pointed at his head.Īfter more than 20 seconds the soldier turns to the dog handler.
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In his right hand is what appears to be a set of red prayer beads. The man rolls onto his back, his legs drawn up. The helicopters are guiding them to a person who has been spotted in a wheat field ahead.Īmongst the wheat, the dog handler and Soldier C come across a bearded man in his 20s being mauled by the dog, called Quake.Īs the dog lets go, Soldier C trains his M4 assault rifle on the man from a range of between 1 and 2 metres. The handler, with his dog, follows the patrol scout, who Four Corners has called Soldier C, through a field towards a mud compound. It is a bright day in May 2012, and 3 Squadron SAS is looking for an insurgent bombmaker. The video, taken by the helmet camera of the patrol's dog handler, shows the SAS patrol disembarking from one of two Black Hawk helicopters before fanning out near the village of Deh Jawz-e Hasanzai. The killing was one of a series of cases uncovered by Four Corners that may constitute war crimes.Ī former member of the same SAS squadron, who was on the 2012 deployment to Afghanistan and has been shown the vision, described the killing to Four Corners as a "straight-up execution". His death took place within three minutes of the soldiers arriving in the village.Īn Australian Defence Force (ADF) investigation later ruled the killing was justified because it was in self-defence. The ABC's Four Corners has obtained video which shows a Special Air Service (SAS) operator shooting an unarmed Afghan man three times in the head and chest while he cowers on the ground. Australian soldiers in the capital of Uruzgan province in Afghanistan in 2007 (file picture).