Australia’s national broadcaster has reported that Australian troops are under investigation for allegedly cutting off the hands of at least one dead insurgent in Afghanistan.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation said on Friday the hands of at least one insurgent were brought back to the Australian base in Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province to be fingerprinted after a battle in which four insurgents were killed.
The Australian Defence Force confirmed that it is investigating “an incident of potential misconduct” during a combined operation of the Afghan National Security Forces and Australia’s Special Operations Task Group in Zabul province in April, but didn’t provide details.
The combined Afghan-Australian operation had been targeting an insurgent commander responsible for a key insurgent network operating in and around Uruzgan province, the statement said.
“Following the mission, an incident of potential misconduct was raised through the ADF’s internal command chain,” the ADF said.
Australian troops are required to take fingerprints and eye scans of very insurgent they kill, if it is possible to do so. Troops are equipped to conduct these investigations in the field. The information is then compared to a growing national biometric data base of insurgent suspects in an effort to identify them.
ABC did not report why the hands were not fingerprinted at the scene of the battle.