UK troops could face Afghan 'war crime' trials

Military experts yesterday condemned the leak, which was simultaneously released in the United States, Germany and the UK, claiming it could affect the safety of British troops by revealing details of their operations.

The leaks were made public as the Afghan government claimed it had evidence that 52 civilians died in a Nato-led rocket attack in the south of the country on Friday.

The whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks obtained the US military records, which give a blow-by-blow account of fighting between January 2004 and December 2009.

Site founder Julian Assange yesterday found himself at the centre of an international storm of protest over the leaks, but defended his decision, saying they exposed evidence of "thousands of war crimes".

The files revealed new details about a secret special forces unit targeting insurgent leaders, and concerns that Pakistani intelligence services could be supporting the Taleban.

However, it is the details of British attacks on civilian targets that could further undermine support for the war in the UK.

British soldiers allegedly shot or bombed Afghan civilians, including women and children, on 21 different occasions, according to the leaked US army archives. At least 26 people were killed and another 20 wounded in the attacks by UK forces. They allegedly include 16 children, three women and a mentally ill man.

Although some casualties were people accidentally hit during air strikes, other are said to be caused by soldiers firing on unarmed drivers or bikers who came too close to patrols.

Four shootings happened in Kabul in the space of just over a month in October 2007, according to the files.

The first shooting happening on 4 October 2007, when a non-combatant was wounded with two or three bullets. On 21 October, three civilian interpreters were apparently wounded when their vehicle was "fired upon by a UK vehicle near Camp Blackhorse… Investigation is controlled by the British."

Four days later, a British soldier fired a warning shot that ricocheted and hit a passer-by. On 6 November, the son of an Afghan general apparently died after suffering gunshot wounds at his brother's wedding.

Another string of shootings happened in Helmand from October 2008, involving British "mentoring units" deployed to work alongside Afghan troops and police.

A further four air strikes allegedly ended in casualties to civilians. A Harrier bombing apparently killed eight and an Apache strike outside Kandahar left a woman and two children dead.A Hellfire missile which was sent over Helmand was said to have killed six Taleban but later it emerged two Afghan children had been wounded.

Four people were killed and three civilians injured by British troops at a checkpoint in Sangin in 2008. On another occasion. a 2 Para squad sent in a rocket and killed three civilians.

On another occasion, British troops opened fire on their supposed allies in the Afghani defence forces after a fight broke out over the Afghanis' use of opium at a party.

The Afghanistan files released by WikiLeaks could contain details of "thousands" of potential war crimes, the founder of the website said.

Speaking in London, Mr Assange said: "It is up to a court to decide clearly whether something is in the end a crime.

"That said, on the face of it, there does appear to be evidence of war crimes in this material."

He said he hoped information in the files would be investigated and exposed as a deterrent to future "human rights abuses" and to create an "incentive" for policy change and prosecutions.

"We would like to see the revelations that this material gives to be taken seriously, investigated by governments and new policies put in place as a result, if not prosecutions of those people who have committed abuses," Mr Assange said.

"It's important to understand this material does not just reveal abuses. This material describes the past six years of the war."

He described the role of WikiLeaks as directly accountable to the "court of public opinion", with no commercial interests.

He said it was clear that the course of the conflict needed to change, and that the newly-released records would help to shape understanding of the past six years of fighting.

Mr Assange brushed off the US administration's criticism of the leak.

"We are familiar with groups whose abuse we expose attempting to criticise the messenger to distract from the power of the message," he said, adding: "It's clear that it will shape an understanding of what the past six years of war has been like, and that the course of the war needs to change.

"The manner in which it needs to change is not yet clear."

Former British Army generals in Afghanistan have hit out at the leaks, however, claiming they could compromise safety of UK troops.

Colonel Richard Kemp, former head of UK forces in Afghanistan, said: "It's potentially damaging to operational security. But I think at the same time it's important people understand how difficult it is."

Colonel Stuart Tootal, who commanded 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment in Helmand province in 2006, said the information "could impact on the security of our soldiers".

The US and UK governments yesterday united in their condemnation of the leaks. The White House called them "irresponsible".

US president Barack Obama's national security adviser, General Jim Jones, said: "The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security."

UK security minister Baroness Neville-Jones, former chair of the UK's Joint Intelligence Committee, described the leaks as "really serious stuff". She said: "I think that every government has to be extremely aware of the vulnerability of its systems."

US authorities refused to say what action was being taken to find the source of the leaks last night. However, an Iraq-based intelligence officer, Bradley Manning, 22, was widely named as the man behind the release.

He is already in US custody over the leaking of details of the US military operation in Iraq.

WikiLeaks has delayed the releases of another 15,000 reports for "harm minimisation", but plans to publish them in full later as the security situation in Afghanistan allows.

The leaks were published yesterday by the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, which were given access to the material several weeks in advance.

The files include reports of operations carried out by a secret US special forces unit called Task Force 373, whose role was to kill or capture senior Taleban and al-Qaeda commanders.

Other entries in the logs record unconfirmed intelligence that members of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency had been secretly supported the Taleban.

There were reports last night that the site has held back footage of a Nato air strike in the west of Afghanistan, which resulted in civilian casualties.

Top three revelations

TASK FORCE 373

The leaks reveal details of the so-called Task Force 373, a troop of US elite soldiers that includes Navy Seals and members of the Delta Force.

Their mission is to deactivate top Taleban and terrorists by either killing or capturing them.

PAKISTAN SUPPORT FOR THE TALEBAN

The role of Pakistani intelligence services (ISI) in helping insurgents is a recurring theme of theme of the leaked documents.

According to the war logs, ISI envoys are present when insurgent commanders hold war councils and give specific orders to carry out murders. These include orders to try to assassinate Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

LIES OVER SURFACE TO AIR MISSILES

In military terms, the most important revelation is that insurgents have managed to get their hands on surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and even used one to down a Nato helicopter.

• Clive Fairweather: Leaks pose no apparent threat to our soldiers on the ground