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In Australia, a major official report has found that Australian special forces were involved in the murder of up to 39 Afghan civilians, in some cases executing prisoners to initiate junior soldiers. The troops are then said to have invented cover stories by planting weapons or phones on the corpses.

The report - which was four years in the making - recommends that 19 current or former soldiers should be investigated by police over the killings of "prisoners, farmers or civilians" between 2009 and 2013. The Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell, apologised for the troop's actions.

Dr Samantha Crompvoets carried out the initial research that led to the official inquiry. She feels vindicated, having faced a lot of criticism for her part in uncovering the killings.

"It was pretty black and white, there wasn't a lot of grey, it wasn't about the fog of war. It wasn't me not understanding what it's like to be at war. It was quite evident there were fundamental things that had gone wrong."

(Photo: Chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) General Angus Campbell delivers the report's findings in Canberra. Credit: EPA)

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