메뉴 건너뛰기

XEDITION

Board

Australian soldiers carried around a dead Taliban fighter's prosthetic leg as a war trophy and used it as a drinking vessel while serving in Afghanistan.

One soldier was photographed drinking out of the prosthetic leg at an unofficial bar known as the Fat Lady's Arms in Tarin Kowt, in the Uruzgan province in 2009.  

The senior special forces soldier pictured in the photo, obtained by , is reportedly still serving in the Australian Defence Force. 

Another photo seen by the publication appears to show two Australian soldiers dancing with the artificial limb. 

Soldiers would play high-stakes poker games and get drunk on homemade spirits at the SAS bar, despite alcohol being banned for Australian troops.  

A soldier was photographed drinking out of the prosthetic leg at an unofficial bar known as the Fat Lady's Arms in Tarin Kowt, in the Uruzgan province in 2009

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqui condemned the 'atrocities' as 'indefensible' on Facebook.

'We shouldn't just oppose war crimes, we should reject the militarism and nationalism that opposes them,' she wrote.  

The war offence of pillaging carries a penalty of 20 years in jail under Section 269.81 of the commonwealth criminal code. 

Until the images were published on Tuesday, rumours of the soldiers' behaviour had never been confirmed with any form of photographic evidence. 

Photos from 2009 showed the same leg mounted to a wooden board under the heading 'Das Boot' alongside a Nazi military decoration. 

Photos from 2009 showed the same leg mounted to a wooden board under the heading 'Das Boot' alongside an Nazi military decoration

The fake leg is believed to have been removed from an Afghan amputee who was gunned down during a raid at Kakarak in Uruzgan in April 2009.

It was then brought back to the special forces headquarters and toted around by the squadron at all times, according to a former trooper.

'Wherever the Fat Lady's Arms was set up, then that's where the leg was kept and used occasionally for drinking out of,' he told the Guardian. 

Senior ranking officers reportedly knew about the behaviour, and some even took part in it according to some soldiers. 

Allegations of serious war crimes perpetrated by special forces soldiers have come to light since the release of the Brereton report last month (Pictured: soldiers step off on a patrol during the closing days of Operation Shak Haliwel in the Kakarak region of Uruzgan Province)

The images were captured in a makeshift bar which was set up and served alcohol to soldiers at their base inside Australia's special forces base.

Allegations of serious war crimes committed by special forces soldiers have come to light since the release of the Brereton report last month. 

Dr David Whetham, Professor of Ethics and the Military Profession at King's College London, mentioned the very bar same bar from the photograph in the report.

Major General Paul Brereton's investigation took four and a half years to scrutinise the conduct of special forces soldiers between 2005 and 2016 (pictured: special force search a village at Musazai in the Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan)

Pages upon pages of the 456 page Brereton report were redacted for security purposes  (pictured) while individual words and phrases are all that is visible on other pages

'There was supposed to be no alcohol, but there was a pub in the base - the Fat Lady's Arms - 'somewhere there where we can do certain stuff but we're not going to get caught and it's not going to be regarded as misconduct because that's who we are and that's what we do',' he wrote. 

But there was no mention of the prosthetic limb or behaviour associated with it in the unredacted sections of the report. 

More than 50 pages of a 456 page probe were censored for security purposes while individual words and phrases are all that is visible on other pages. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Defence said it was critical all matters raised are considered carefully and appropriate actions taken in accordance with ADF processes. 

'Where there is information provided to Defence not addressed as part of the Afghanistan Inquiry, these matters will be investigated thoroughly and acted on,' the spokesperson said.

'It is critical that all matters are considered carefully, and any actions are undertaken according to the ADF's longstanding and well-established processes, ensuring the rights of individuals to due process and fair hearing are protected.' 

위로