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No inquiry into Hit & Run allegations: PM

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Mon, 3 Apr 2017, 4:10PM

No inquiry into Hit & Run allegations: PM

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Mon, 3 Apr 2017, 4:10PM

UPDATED 4.38PM: There will not be an inquiry into allegations an SAS raid in Afghanistan led to civilian deaths.

Prime Minister Bill English revealed that decision at his regular post-Cabinet press conference this afternoon, saying there was no basis for an inquiry.

"After consider Lieutenant General Keating's briefing, his letter to mister Brownlee, and viewing footage of the operation, I have concluded there is no basis for ordering an inquiry," he said at his post-cabinet meeting press conference. 

English says he's satisfied they took care during the attack and was conducted within the rules of engagement.

"I was impressed by the restraint, the care, and the repetitive reassurance that the action was being conducted in a way that would minimise civilian casualties and even avoid the destruction of property."

English said video of Operation Burnham is classified and he won't be releasing it.

Hit & Run, written by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, alleges SAS troops killed six innocent villagers and injured 15 others in Baghlan Province in 2010 during a revenge raid after the death of Timothy O'Donnell.

The book also alleges that details of the botched raid, which failed to kill any insurgents at all, were covered-up by the New Zealand Defence Force.

 

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