Britain's Ministry of Defense announced Thursday an investigation into allegations that its special forces committed dozens of extrajudicial killings during nighttime raids in Afghanistan.
The announcement comes in the wake of a report broadcast by the BBC's "Panorama" program last July, which said that soldiers from the Special Air Force had killed 54 people in Afghanistan in suspicious circumstances.
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement it had "opened an independent legal inquiry to research and report on allegations of wrongdoing by British soldiers in relation to killings in Afghanistan".
She added that "the investigation will look into alleged activities during the period from mid-2010 to mid-2013."
The ministry indicated that the investigation - which will be headed by senior judge Lord Haddon Cave - will also consider the appropriate response to these allegations.
Defense Secretary Andrew Morrison told parliament the decision was taken based on two cases currently under judicial review in Britain brought by families who say their relatives were killed by special forces in 2011 and 2012, and the circumstances could not be properly investigated.
"Operations must be carried out within the clear confines of the law, and any credible allegations against our forces must always be thoroughly investigated," he added.
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And the BBC quoted in its aforementioned investigation - about two workers within the British Special Forces - that the regiments of these forces were competing in killing the largest number of Afghans.
The investigation, which lasted for 4 years, indicated that the officers, including General Mark Carlton Smith, who headed the British Special Forces, were aware of this.
It also showed that the emails reveal that senior officials knew that unlawful killings were taking place, and did not report them.
The BBC added that under British law, the failure of officers to report the crime to the military police is in itself a crime.
Carlton Smith - who retired last November from the army command post - declined to comment, while the Ministry of Defense said that previous investigations into the conduct of British forces in Afghanistan did not find enough evidence to bring charges.