UK probes ‘trophy’ pictures of dead Taliban
Two servicemen withdrawn from duty over images appearing to show a soldier posing next to dead fighter in Afghanistan.
The British military is investigating photographs that appear to show a serviceman in Afghanistan posing beside a dead Taliban fighter.
The pictures were allegedly taken in the aftermath of a 2012 attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion, the main British base in Afghanistan.
The images first appeared on LiveLeak, a website sometimes used by servicemen to post photographs of incidents during tours of duty.
The BBC reported that two members of the Royal Air Force Regiment – the ground-fighting force of the RAF – had been withdrawn from frontline duties while the incident is investigated.
Two US marines were killed and a number of British soldiers were injured in the attack on Camp Bastion in the September 2012 attack.
The photographs appear to show at least one member of the RAF giving a thumbs-up sign as he kneels next to the body of a dead fighter.
It is unclear if it is the same serviceman in both of the photographs. Another photograph shows a burned-out plane in a hangar – six US Harrier jets were destroyed in the attack.
An RAF spokeswoman said: “Inappropriate actions will not be tolerated in the armed forces; the RAF is treating this incident extremely seriously and has launched a military police investigation.”