A policing unit in Afghanistan set up to investigate alleged war crimes committed by UK soldiers stationed in the war-torn country reportedly received [BBC report] around 600 complaints of ill treatment and abuse occurring between 2005 and 2013. Members of the Royal Military Police [official website] are investigating the allegations, and UK Prime Minister Theresa May has expressed her concern [Daily Express report] that the allegations may be false claims against soldiers. A UK Ministry of Defence [official website] spokesperson said that where there are credible complaints an investigation would be conducted.

War crime investigations of UK armed forces in the past had largely focused on actions in Iraq. In July the International Criminal Court announced [JURIST report] the decision not to prosecute Tony Blair for war crimes related to the 2003 Iraq War. In May the UK Supreme Court unanimously rejected claims [JURIST report] made by Iraqi civilians that they were extrajudicially detained and physically abused by British forces. In 2005 a prosecutor argued at the opening of a much-anticipated [JURIST report] British court-martial that seven British paratroopers patrolling in southern Iraq in 2003 killed an Iraqi civilian and abused others after stopping a truck carrying them three weeks after hostilities had officially ended. This was the first trial of British soldiers for the killing of an Iraqi civilian.