This Jan 28, 2004 file photo shows the Ministry of Defence in London, the United Kingdom. A public inquiry into British special forces claims that members of British special forces carried out dozens of extrajudicial killings during night raids in Afghanistan gets underway in London on Wednesday.
Britain's defense ministry ordered the inquiry after a BBC TV documentary last year reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service had killed 54 people in suspicious circumstances.
Two families, who accuse the SAS of killing their relatives in 2011 and 2012, began legal action to demand judicial review of their cases.
The inquiry, led by senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave, will examine whether there was unlawful activity by British military personnel between mid- 2010 and mid-2013 during 'deliberate detention operations, and whether there is credible information about extra-judicial killings.
It will look at whether investigations by the Royal Military were properly conducted and if any unlawful killings were covered up.
Defence Minister Andrew Murrison told parliament when he announced the inquiry in December that the UK's armed forces are rightly held to the highest possible operational standards.
Legislative allegations against our forces must always be investigated and operations must be conducted within the clear boundaries of the law. The British military police have done several investigations into allegations of misconduct by forces in Afghanistan, including those made against the SAS, but the Ministry of Defense has not found enough evidence for prosecutions.