Canberra, Jun 8 (IANS): Members of Australia's elite special force units allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan, anal internal inquiry revealed on Friday.

According to the inquiry, Australian soldiers carried out "unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations" which extended to a "disregard for human life and dignity", reports Xinhua news agency.

It also uncovered a "complete lack of accountability" from the military chain of command.

The inquiry was commissioned by then Special Operations Commander Major General Jeff Sengelman in 2016 amid concerns of the impact that high intensity deployments had on Australia's special forces community.

It said the Australian government faced "enormous and difficult challenges" to counter behaviour that goes "well beyond blowing off steam" and involved "problems deeply embedded in the culture" of the taskforce that spearheaded Australia's mission in Afghanistan.

A special forces insider was quoted in the document and warned of the dangers of ignoring the current cultural problems.

"It'll be reputational issues that will continue to bubble away, regardless of what senior leadership say. And the people that are known to be bad are in the system and they're getting promoted and going forward," the insider said.