UPDATED 5.32pm A group of New Zealand lawyers have put up their hands to represent the Afghan villagers at the centre of claims New Zealand SAS troops killed civilians in 2010.
The lawyers have announced they will be asking the Attorney General and Government for a full and independent inquiry.
LISTEN ABOVE: Immigration lawyer Deborah Manning speaks to Larry Williams
Law firm McLeod Associates will represent the villagers allegedly killed or injured during an SAS-led raid.
Allegations of civilian deaths were made this week in Hit and Run, a new book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson.
The law firm says it has written to Attorney General Chris Finlayson and Prime Minister Bill English to notify them.
They say that "every day there's a different version" of events and an enquiry is needed to clarify what actually happened.
Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson has confirmed he's received a letter from a law firm, in relation to the allegations in Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson's book.
Mr Finlayson said he will consider the letter, but has nothing further to add.
The lawyers believe the version of events put forward by Hager's book, saying they have spoken to family members of those killed in the raid who confirmed civilian deaths.
They believe Defense Force denials have misled the public, calling the claim no civilians were killed a "cover up".
Immigration lawyer Deborah Manning, one of those representing the villagers, says they are demanding a full and independent inquiry as a first step.
Manning said Stephenson had approached her to represent the affected villagers.
She said what happened was a "violation of human rights, there must be an independent inquiry".
Manning said she has been in contact with the villagers, who are in a remote part of Afghanistan, since September or October last year.
She said they are disappointed at the attempts to justify the raids, and they want help.
Manning said an inquiry is needed as a first step, and an apology and reparations may be sought further down the track.
Another of the lawyers, Roger Harrison QC, says there is now overwhelming evidence the New Zealand SAS led a raid that killed civilians.
Labour, the Green Party and New Zealand First have already called for an inquiry.
And today United Future leader Peter Dunne said an inquiry “now seems inevitable”.
“There has been a rising fog of confusion, about what may or may not have happened,” Dunne said in a press release issued after the lawyers’ press conference.
“Recollections now seem to vary sharply, and I think it is inevitable some form of inquiry will be necessary to clarify and resolve these.”
The current saga of “claim and counter-claim” would not provide New Zealanders with open reassurance that our forces had behaved appropriately, Dunne said.
Act Party leader David Seymour said he had not yet been persuaded that an inquiry should take place.
“The fact that a three year-old girl died is horrible. But unfortunately civilian deaths are a regrettable part of all wars.”
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