20 Jun 2019

Stephenson talks to Taliban, retracts 'Hit & Run' claim

From Morning Report, 7:10 am on 20 June 2019

One of the authors of Hit & Run, the book that criticised an SAS raid in Afghanistan, has retracted one of the key claims.

Jon Stephenson says he now believes armed insurgents were in a village attacked by the elite New Zealand soldiers in 2010.

Allegations in the book sparked the inquiry now under way into the raid in which six civilians were killed.

The book's authors said the SAS mistakenly believed fighters they were searching for were in one of the villages.

But Jon Stephenson now says he has learned the SAS was right. He talks to Corin Dann.