A FORMER SAS sergeant turned TV star has denied claims that he was involved in the “mercy killings” of Iraqi soldiers.
Sergeant Colin Maclachlan, who appeared in Channel 4 series Who Dares Wins, could face an investigation by the Ministry of Defence over comments made in his new book, SAS Who Dares Wins, Leadership Secrets From The Special Forces.
Sergeant Maclachan told The Sun that allies did carry out mercy killings in the 2003 Iraq War but he was not one of them.
He said: "I certainly didn't walk up and execute three people. I stand by what happened but I didn't kill them. That's taking it a bridge too far."
The 42-year-old from Edinburgh, who was involved in several dangerous rescues during his time in the special forces, discusses the 'mercy killings' of three Iraqis by US-led Special Forces in his new book.
In a chapter entitled Handling the Dirty Work, he wrote: “When we got there, I could see there were a number of seriously injured soldiers. Special Forces operatives quickly put them out of their misery, rather than leaving them to die slowly and in agony.
“I didn’t enjoy killing those soldiers at the checkpoint but I had to put them out of their misery. I didn’t want them to suffer any more.”
However, Sergeant Maclachlan said that a ghost-written draft of his book had been submitted to a newspaper without him reading it and any suggestion that he had killed the soldiers was 'absolute nonsense'.
Executing badly wounded enemy soldiers, even when intended as an act of mercy, is illegal under UK military law.
It is understood that, contrary to reports in the Mail on Sunday, no formal investigation has yet been launched but MoD police are said to be poring over sections of the book, entitled SAS Who Dares Wins: Leadership Secrets From The Special Forces.
A MoD Spokesman said: “Our Armed Forces will continue to be held to the very highest standards. Credible allegations of criminal behaviour will always be investigated properly”
Mr Maclachlan’s case comes as it was revealed British troops are under criminal investigation over the detention of Iraqis in Basra 13 years ago.
The probe is centred on allegations of ill-treatment of two men accused of involvement in the deaths of two British soldiers. The Iraq Historic Allegations Team set up to look into allegations of abuse of Iraqi civilians by UK military personnel, is examining the claims.
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