“They handcuffed a young boy and shot him. He was clearly a child, not even close to fighting age.”

The testimony emerging about alleged war crimes committed by UK special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is the stuff of horror movies: a portrait of psychopaths in uniform, murdering with impunity.

Stark questions must now be answered about how much senior military officers and politicians knew about the allegations.

The testimony doesn’t come from human rights lawyers, troublesome journalists or Afghan and Iraqi civilians.

The testimony comes from British special forces: comrades of the alleged killers. It cannot be ignored. It must be reckoned with as a matter of national priority, if democracy and the rule of law are to have any meaning.

The disclosures of more than 30 people who served with or alongside UK special forces like the SAS were made to BBC Panorama.

What has been revealed is sickening, enraging and terrifying. That eyewitness report about the shooting of a handcuffed child came from a veteran who served with the SAS in Afghanistan.

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Detainee killings were “routine”. Special forces would “search someone, handcuff them, then shoot them”. Once victims were dead, the handcuffs would be removed and weapons planted to make it seem they resisted and were dangerous.

A judge-led inquiry is now under way but it only focuses on three specific years. The war crimes alleged occurred over a decade.

One soldier who served with the SBS – the Special Boat Service – said some special forces showed “serious psychopathic traits. They were lawless. They felt untouchable”.

One witness said killing became “addictive” and some SAS........

© Herald Scotland