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Families of elite soldiers are believed to have been questioned in a probe into alleged war crimes.

A team of former police detectives is said to have quizzed the wives and girlfriends of servicemen while investigating 20 soldiers over historical allegations made by Iraqi civilians.

A source claims the team even asked the men’s former spouses and lovers whether they ever “confessed” or “spoke in their sleep” about the front line.

Many of the troops under investigation have received bravery awards – and many had been previously cleared of any alleged wrongdoing.

But the Iraq Historical Allegations Team (IHAT), set up by the Government, is now examining 263 separate complaints against the men, including 53 cases of unlawful killing and 110 cases of alleged ill treatment between 2003 and 2009.

Of those, around 20 are linked to either the SAS, SBS or interrogators working with the special forces.

Our source described the £35million IHAT investigation as a “ridiculous waste of tax-payers’ money”.

He said: “Many of the soldiers and marines being investigated had been cleared of any crime. They spent years in limbo wondering whether they would be sent to prison for doing their duty. Now those investigations have been reopened and their lives are back on hold.”

In one case an SAS member is again facing a murder charge after shooting dead an Iraqi civilian in 2004.

The SAS team was raiding a suspected insurgent compound when they came under fire. One of the SAS men fired through a door after an insurgent appeared with an AK47. When the assault was over the home owner was found dead behind the door. The SAS man faced a murder charge for 18 months before he was cleared.

The IHAT unit is made up of 145 former police detectives, civilian investigators and Royal Navy police officers. Since it was established in 2010 it has completed nine investigations, eight of which required no further action.

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Any new evidence uncovered by the IHAT probe which indicates a crime has been committed will be sent to the Service Prosecuting Authority who will decide whether a soldier will be charged.

An IHAT spokesman said: “IHAT has a large caseload comprising allegations of mistreatment and of unlawful killing and some of these allegations may have previously been investigated at the time of the original alleged offence.

“But for the UK to fulfil its obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights, each allegation must now be considered by the IHAT, which has been ruled by the High Court to be sufficiently independent from the Ministry of Defence to conduct criminal investigations into these matters.”