Revealed, British Soldiers Linked To Death Of Hundreds Of Afghan Civilians, Including 86 Children

Illustration of British soldiers in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Cpl. Steve Cushman)

JAKARTA - British troops were linked to the deaths of 86 children and more than 200 adult civilians during the Afghan conflict, with an average compensation of just £2,380 for each life lost, new figures reveal.

Citing The Guardian September 23, victim data was recorded in the Ministry of Defense's official compensation log (MoD), which was obtained from a series of freedom of information requests. According to the data, the youngest recorded civilian victim was three years old.

One of the most serious incidents on record was the giving away of £4,233.60 to a family, following the deaths of four children who were mistakenly 'shot and killed' in an incident in December 2009.

Some payments amounted to less than a few hundred pounds. In February 2008, one family received £104.17 following confirmed death and property damage in Helmand Province, while another received £586.42 compensation for the death of their 10-year-old son in December 2009.

Illustration of British soldiers in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Celticwarrior3551)

The data was collected by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), which examined logs coinciding with the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan last month, culminating in the chaos of airlifting from Kabul airport.

There has been a renewed focus on civilian casualties in Afghanistan after the US was forced to admit that a drone strike last month killed 10 civilians including seven children, not militants from the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), as first claimed.

A "grave mistake" was made, said General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, as he offered his "deep condolences to the families and friends of those killed".

In English logs, many incidents are recorded only briefly. Murray Jones, the study's author, said: "These files are not easy to read. The banality of language means hundreds of tragic deaths, including dozens of children, read more like an inventory."

The AOAV estimates 20,390 civilians were killed or injured by international and Afghan forces during the 20-year conflict, though that's a third of the number killed by the Taliban and other insurgents. A total of 457 British soldiers also died during this period.

Withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Corporal Andrew MorrisRAFMOD)

Overall, the compensation log shows £688,000 was paid by the British military for incidents involving 289 deaths between 2006 and 2013, the last year of British combat operations in the country, which is the average compensation paid by the Ministry of Defense per civilian killed. is about 2,380 pounds.

The payments recorded also relate to operations involving the SAS, which is accused of involvement in the execution of civilians during the conflict. The families of three Afghan farmers who were allegedly killed in cold blood in 2012 received £3,634 three weeks after the incident. The log described the money as "a relief payment to be made to calm the local atmosphere".

In some cases, payments for property damage are greater than those recorded for loss of life. During 2009-10, the Ministry of Defense compensated £873 for a damaged crane and £662 for the deaths of six donkeys 'while they were wandering in the rifle range'.

The payments data is one of the few ways to determine how many civilians are likely to have been killed by British forces in Afghanistan, as the Defense Ministry said in response to another freedom of information request that does not have a centralized figure.

British military in Kabul airport area. (Twitter/@DefenceHQ)

British officials said efforts were routinely made to minimize the impact of military operations on civilians. In other contexts, however, Britain has made only limited acknowledgments. The Defense Ministry said there was one civilian casualty during the RAF's bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq against ISIS over 10,000 missions since August 2014.

Separately, a Defense Ministry spokesman said the amount of compensation paid in each case was determined by a mix of legal principles and local customs and practices.

"Every civilian death is a tragedy and the UK has always tried to minimize the risk of civilian casualties through our rigorous targeting process, but that risk can never be completely eliminated," they added.

The Defense Ministry earlier said it had reviewed allegations of SAS involvement in extra-judicial executions, and said "the evidence is insufficient for prosecution".