Dutch police have arrested an elderly man of Afghan descent on suspicion of committing war crimes in Afghanistan more than 35 years ago, prosecutors said on Friday.
Sadeq A., 64, was detained in the western port city of Rotterdam earlier this week, on suspicion of being part of an Afghan army commando unit who murdered mujahedin guerilla fighters in eastern Afghanistan in April 1979.
"The commando unit under Sadeq A. participated in several murders," the Dutch public prosecutor's office said in a statement, referring to the suspect only by his first name because of Dutch privacy rules.
Prosecutors referred to an incident on 19 and 20 April 1979 when Afghan army troops fended off an attack by mujahedin fighters in Kerala in eastern Afghanistan.
"In the attack's aftermath, government troops committed large-scale murder against men and boys living in the village," Dutch prosecutors said.
"Some were shot dead at once and others were taken elsewhere and murdered," they added.
Sadeq A. was first arrested after the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979.
He was released in 1990 after which the Netherlands granted him asylum.
Dutch prosecutors in 2008 started to investigate Sadeq A.'s activities in Afghanistan, after victims' relatives laid a complaint against him, the prosecutors' statement said.
The Netherlands has been actively rooting out those accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity who have applied for asylum in the country to escape their crimes.
It has a number of specialists looking into the issue and is investigating in particular war crimes committed in Afghanistan between 1978-92.
So far, two former Afghan generals living in the Netherlands have been sentenced for war crimes, while a third investigation was axed in 2013 after the suspect died.
"The Netherlands will not be a safe haven for war criminals and is committed to the fight against impunity for international crimes," the prosecutors said.