wall. He then gave the body a quick pat search and that initial search was simply to identify whether there were any further weapons or anything like that. The applicant put the weapon the insurgent had up at the far end of the building against the wall at the entrance point. In cross-examination, the applicant said that the body of the insurgent he had engaged was approximately three metres from the body of the insurgent engaged by the SASR operator behind him. The applicant said that he grabbed hold of the insurgent he had engaged and dragged him back behind the wall. He walked to the end of the tunnel courtyard wall and looked around the corner to the right. He went out and grabbed hold of the body and dragged it back behind the wall. His focus was on making sure there was no other insurgent in the area where the two insurgents had come from.
829 As I previously said, when the applicant first gave his account he said that when he grabbed the body of the insurgent he had engaged, the other SASR operator grabbed hold of the other body because they both ended up getting dragged back behind the wall. The applicant said that he dragged the body of the insurgent he engaged back in because it needed to be cleared. He said that that was the drill. The body needs to be cleared once the SASR operator is not in threat. The applicant did not radio in the engagement. Having dragged the body back in, the applicant confirmed that he gave the body a quick pat search. It involves making sure that there are no weapons military equipment. It is a primary search, said the applicant, to make sure there is no threat or danger like a suicide vest. He said it could be anything and that the SASR operator was simply making sure there was nothing there.
830 The applicant said that the insurgent he engaged had a bolt action rifle. The applicant is fairly sure that he went out a second time to retrieve the rifle.
831 On the following day, the applicant changed his evidence about the second operator dragging the body of the insurgent he engaged back in the same way as the applicant had done with the insurgent he engaged. The applicant said he had no idea why the other SASR operator did not follow the same drill. The situation was the same, there was an insurgent in a similar position with a weapon. The applicant disagreed with the proposition put to him in cross-examination that EKIA57 had never been moved. He disagreed with the suggestion that it was not standard procedure to clear a body in the circumstances of the engagement of EKIA57. He said that it was necessary to clear the bodies to make sure that there was no further threat and he identified further threats as weapons or things that you need to be aware of. He was asked why, if it was
