NZDF staff asked to 'tell the truth' after alleged SAS operation cover-up

Members of the Hit and Run Inquiry Campaign say they are not blaming soldiers for what bosses have done. Photo / NZDF

New Zealand Defence Force staff arriving at work in Wellington are being told to "tell the truth" as campaigners ask them to discreetly give more information about an alleged cover-up of a NZ SAS mission in Afghanistan.

It has been a year since the release of Hit and Run penned by journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson.

The book details a New Zealand Special Air Service-led raid on two isolated villages in Afghanistan in search of fighters they suspected were responsible for the death of a New Zealand soldier.

None of the fighters were found and by the end of the raid 21 civilians were dead or wounded, most of whom were children and women, including a 3-year-old girl who was killed.

Members of the Hit and Run Inquiry Campaign marked the anniversary by handing out leaflets to defence force staff as they arrived at work.

The leaflet featured an version of the NZDF recruiting poster featuring a young army member altered with the words: "They told me we didn't kill any civilians. They lied."

"Our action has two purposes: assuring ordinary defence staff we were not blaming them for what their bosses have done and inviting them to help us fully to expose the wrongdoing and cover up," campaign spokesman Finn Leason said.

"We believe the Government is likely to announce an inquiry in the next few weeks.

"We are waiting to see if it will be a strong inquiry, that the public can have confidence in, or if the Government responds to pressure from Defence and approves to a weak inquiry, which would allow the NZDF to keep its actions secret."

Either way the campaign would continue, Leason said.

Satellite imagery obtained by the Herald showed villages pictured in the book Hit and Run are where Operation Burnham took place.

A new NZ Herald interactive details the location where the authors of the book and the New Zealand Defence Force argued the infamous Operation Burham took place in Afghanistan.