Canberra; Australian soldiers were facing charges of war crimes after a footage emerged of a trooper executing an unarmed Afghan man.

The footage, captured by the helmet camera of an Australian soldier in 2012, was telecast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Monday night, reports Xinhua news agency.

It shows a Special Air Service (SAS) operator shooting the Afghan man, Dad Mohammed, believed to be 25 or 26 years old at the time, three times on the head and chest while he lays unarmed on the ground.

Mohammed's death occurred within three minutes of the SAS patrol arriving in the village of Deh Jawz-e Hasanzai looking for an insurgent bomb-maker.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) later ruled that it was justified as an act of self-defence.