British special forces in Afghanistan appeared to commit war crimes by executing suspects, a former senior British officer has told a public inquiry.

Despite widespread knowledge in the chain of command, nothing was done, the whistleblower claimed. Britain's Ministry of Defence ordered the inquiry after a BBC TV documentary reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances during the war in Afghanistan more than a decade ago.

The investigation is examining night-time raids by British forces from mid-2010 to mid-2013, when troops were part of a US-led coalition fighting against the Taliban and other militant groups.

The whistleblower, who is known to the inquiry only as N1466, said the alleged murder of civilians by UK special forces in the country is “not special, it’s not elite, it’s not what we stand for”. During his evidence, which was given behind closed doors, the witness, who was assistant chief of staff for operations in the UK special forces headquarters, said “we didn’t join [the special forces] for this sort of behaviour … toddlers to get shot in their beds or random killing”.

He appeared to refer to the children of Hussain Uzbakzai and his wife Ruqquia Haleem, who are alleged to have been shot while asleep in their beds during a night-time operation in 2012 in the village of Shesh Aba, in Afghanistan's southern Nimruz province.

N1466 told the inquiry that one UK special forces unit, known as UKSF1, used...

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