Sydney, Australia

On Thursday, Australia's top military officer made a revealing admission of having unlawfully killed at least 39 civilians and prisoners from Afghanistan.

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The Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell said there is credible evidence that the Australian special forces broke rules and unlawfully killed civilians.

"Some patrols took the law into their own hands, rules were broken, stories concocted, lies told and prisoners killed," he said. This admission has come as a result of an investigation that has been going on for the past few years and concentrated on the military's behaviour in Afghanistan. He has further advised the authorities to let a prosecutor investigating alleged war crimes handle the case.

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He also told the tale of the rituals of 'blooding' and how the young soldiers were forced and pressured into making their first kill. "This shameful record includes alleged instances in which new patrol members were coerced to shoot a prisoner in order to achieve that soldier's first kill, in an appalling practice known as 'blooding'," he explained.

With guilt in his heart for these kills, Campbell he apologises "sincerely and unreservedly" to the people of Afghanistan and especially to the victims' families. He regretted the killings and said the 25 Australian special forces who have been accused of wrongdoing in 23 incidents have bought a "stain" on the regiment and their country.

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After the admission, he also called for revoking of several distinguished service medals that were awarded to few selected special operations forces who had served in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013.

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The matter came to light as reports of violent and brutal crimes even after the Australian combat troops left the country in 2013. These troops had been stationed in Afghanistan in 2001 to fight against Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Islamist groups.

The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had urged the Afghanistan counterpart to brace for the "honest and brutal truths" that were in the redacted document, and to foreshadow some disturbing allegations" that the government was taking "very seriously". However, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani had assumed that Morrison was expressing " his deepest sorrow over the misconduct" — a claim not supported by Australia.

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Following the Twitter threads, Morrison had appointed a special investigator to prosecute the alleged war crimes in the country and an independent panel has also been set up to bring in cultural and leadership changes in the special forces.

The recent revelations are a result of a report called "Afghan files" by a public broadcaster ABC in 2017. The "Afghan files" had made similar allegations at that time, accusing special forces of killing unarmed men and children in Afghanistan.