That's the only conclusion that can be drawn from the NZDF's latest admission to the Operation Burnham inquiry:
An SAS sniper killed an Afghan target without identifying if the person was armed during a controversial night-time raid.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) made the admission in a memo to the Operation Burnham inquiry published this month, after asserting the person was an insurgent carrying a weapon.
"It is not possible to determine conclusively whether or not the insurgent observed by the [remotely piloted aircraft] was armed at the moment he was engaged."
The Government inquiry, at a third public hearing on Monday, heard the killing of civilians is prohibited under international humanitarian law, and suspected combatants should be treated as civilians if there is doubt.
NZDF clearly did not do that, and appears not to have even tried. The latter turns this from (most charitably) a horrible accident in the heat of battle to depraved indifference. As for the shooter, they should be prosecuted for murder and/or war crimes.
