A shocking report into war crimes by elite Australian Special Air Service (SAS) troops found evidence that soldiers unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians. Defence Force Chief General Angus Campbell said on Thursday that the shameful record included alleged instances in which new patrol members would shoot a prisoner in order to achieve their first kill in a practice known as "blooding." He said the soldiers would then plant weapons and radios to support false claims the prisoners were enemies killed in action. Campbell said the illegal killings began in 2009, with the majority occurring in 2012 and 2013. He said the report recommended 19 soldiers be investigated by police for possible murder charges. The chief was announcing the findings of a four-year investigation by Paul Brereton, a judge asked to look into the allegations who interviewed more than 400 witnesses and reviewed thousands of pages of documents. He said he'd spoken directly to his Afghan counterpart to express his remorse. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQu... Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake