A senior judge has launched an independent inquiry to investigate whether UK military police covered up — or did not properly probe — allegations of unlawful killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.

Britain's government ordered the inquiry after lawyers brought legal challenges on behalf of the families of eight Afghans.

They were allegedly killed by British special forces during night-time raids in 2011 and 2012.

Senior judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his team would "get to the bottom" of whether investigations carried out by the Royal Military Police were adequate.

"It is clearly important that anyone who has broken the law is referred to the relevant authorities for investigation. Equally, those who have done nothing wrong should rightly have the cloud of suspicion lifted from them," the judge said.

"This is critical, both for the reputation of the armed forces and [for] the country."

The inquiry into two separate incidents will also review whether the deaths "formed part of a wider pattern of extra-judicial killings by British armed forces in Afghanistan at the time".

Thousands of British troops were deployed to Afghanistan as part of a two-decade-long NATO-led campaign in the country after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

Many British soldiers engaged in heavy fighting with insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

Britain ended all combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014, although a small number of troops stayed to train Afghan security forces until 2021, when the international coalition withdrew from the country.