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Daily Mail
01-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Loyal Afghan commando who helped recover British hero's body is tortured amid mounting Taliban revenge attacks after UK data breach disaster - as top MOD figure prepares to quit
An Afghan hero who risked enemy fire carrying the body of a British special forces soldier down a mountain alongside the now-Veterans Minister Al Carns has been attacked and tortured while fleeing from the Taliban. It comes amid further horrific executions this week of Afghans who worked with British forces, as the 'revenge of the Taliban' steps up pace since it was revealed the Government had lost a database and put 100,000 people 'at risk of death'. Ministers obtained a super-injunction to hush-up the blunder for two years. Ahmad was an Afghan soldier who worked with the SAS and SBS. He is in hiding in Iran where he and his family fled from Taliban revenge squads. He faces deportation back to Afghanistan where, he says, 'certain punishment, likely execution' awaits. Yet in the past few days, while waiting to hear if he can relocate to safety in the UK as a reward for his loyalty fighting with British forces, he has been tortured by thugs linked to the Taliban who broke and cut the fingers on his right hand. The Daily Mail has seen gruesome photos, which are too shocking to publish, of Ahmad's injuries. The 34-year-old married father served with Afghan commandos 'the Triples' – who were trained and paid by UK forces - for nearly a decade. He was part of a brave detachment of British and Afghan special forces who stormed the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and helped free Western hostages in 2018. And in 2013, Ahmad was on an operation with UK Special Forces in which two members of the elite British commandos the SBS were shot. He helped carry the body of one of them down a mountain, determined to ensure he was returned to his family. Alongside him was Al Carns, their commanding officer at the time, one of Britain's most distinguished special forces soldiers - and who is now an MP and the Veterans' Minister. The commanding officer that night was Al Carns, one of Britain's most distinguished special forces soldiers and who is now an MP and the Veterans' Minister. Ahmad, which is not his real name, said: 'My life and that of my family are in great danger. I would appeal to the minister to help me, he knows what happened, and of our bravery beside the British – because of that work, I will never be safe. 'My work for Britain and for Afghanistan makes me a top target for the Taliban, they have been looking for me. Nowhere is safe. The leak of data makes it more dangerous.' Meanwhile there have been at least two murders. The families of both men killed – one an officer with the Afghan special forces, the other an intelligence officer – have been ordered by the warlords in charge of the country not to discuss their assassinations. But friends said they had been waiting to hear if they could move to the UK, under the ARAP scheme which was set up to reward those who had worked alongside British forces. The first victim, Bashir, was a 38-year-old officer with the Triples. As he walked near his home, he was followed by three gunmen in a car. One gunman climbed from the car and shot him several times at point blank range, witnessed, friends said, by his terrified wife and two young children. The second victim, Abdul, was a former intelligence officer with the National Directorate of Security (NDS) which worked closely with MI6, diplomats and UK forces. Earlier this week, he was shot dead and his body handed over to his family. It showed fresh signs of torture, friends said. It is not confirmed whether the details of the men and their families were among the 100,000 'at risk of death' impacted by the data breach that was discovered by the Daily Mail in August 2023. The newspaper was prevented from revealing the data disaster by the Government's unprecedented super-injunction which was lifted in mid-July after the Mail fought a two-year battle for justice in secret courts. Today the MOD said: 'The independent Rimmer Review concluded that it is highly unlikely that merely being on the spreadsheet means an individual is more likely to be targeted, and this is the basis on which the court lifted its super injunction.' Taliban assassins are said to have carried out dozens of killings, including the executions of at least four former members of the Afghan military deported from Iran in one brutal operation. One Afghan, who worked for Britain and is still in hiding, suggested between 50-60 had been killed in July. Meanwhile Aftab, who worked for six years for the UK, said a colleague had been arrested at an internet café – where Afghan go to check the UK government's website about their cases. Aftab, 28, said: 'It is a disgrace that we were not told of the data leak when the government of the UK found out two years ago. It has left us terrified, and watching the number of killings rise while wondering if we will be next. I have moved home twice in a week.' Aftab said he believed it was 'only a matter of time' until he was found by the Taliban. He said: 'At best I will be beaten and tortured by the Taliban…they are monsters. At worst I will be killed.' Amid the fallout from the data leak and the Government's super-injunction scandal, the Ministry of Defence's top civil servant will stand down later this year. The Permanent Secretary David Williams (who is no relation to the author of this article) told staff at the department that he will quit in autumn. Tan Dhesi, chairman of the House of Commons' Defence Committee, said: 'David Williams' many years of dedicated public service deserve respect. It's not yet clear whether his decision to step down is linked to the recently revealed Afghan data breach. However, what is clear is that this grave failure of data protection demands proper scrutiny, which the Defence Committee certainly intends to provide. 'The fact that this breach has put at risk our courageous British service personnel and the Afghans who bravely supported them, makes the situation even more shocking. I am sure the committee will want to investigate and understand how this could have been allowed to happen.' When he announced the data breach to Parliament, Defence Secretary John Healey told MPs his 'first concern has been to notify as many people as possible who are affected by the data incident and to provide them with further advice'. He said the MOD had a new dedicated website offering security advice. The MoD said: 'Permanent secretary David Williams will step down this autumn and the recruitment process for his successor is under way. 'Since 2021, David has led the department through a period of significant activity, and we thank him for his contribution.' The covert airlift of thousands of Afghans – codenamed Operation Rubific – was launched after the UK military catastrophically lost a database of details of those who had applied for sanctuary in the UK to flee the murderous put 100,000 'at risk of death', in the Government's own words. It also exposed British officials, special forces and MI6 spies whose details were on the list. The Ministry of Defence's top civil servant, permanent secretary David Williams (no relation to the author of this article), is to step down from his post in the autumn The confidential database that the British government lost, putting '100,000 people at risk of death' and triggering the evacuations mission Operation Rubific How ministers signed up to a £7billion scheme to relocate Afghans to the UK, without asking or telling taxpayers or MPs. The MOD says the figure has since been revised to around £6billion After the Mail was the first newspaper in the world to discover the data breach, in August 2023, the Ministry of Defence mounted a cover-up and successfully hushed up our exclusive. They obtained a super-injunction and, cloaked by the unprecedented news blackout, ministers have been clandestinely running one of the biggest peacetime evacuation missions in modern British history to rescue people the UK had imperilled – smuggling thousands out of Afghanistan and flying them to Britain at vast cost, with taxpayers being neither asked nor informed. The Daily Mail revealed how the projected £7billion cost was signed off while taxpayers and MPs were kept in the dark.
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Personal details of UK special forces included in Afghan data breach
British special forces, MI6 spies and government officials were among more than 100 Britons on the lost Afghan dataset, it is understood. The Daily Mail has seen the list and can now reveal that details of scores of UK operatives were among the 18,800 Afghans. Ministers fought for two years to hush-up the data blunder with an unprecedented super-injunction that silenced the Mail and other media. The High Court was told the draconian gagging order was necessary to protect 100,000 Afghans the UK had put 'at risk of death'. But after the Mail was able to get access to the database and analyse its contents, it became clear that dozens of British spies, officials and senior commanders including a brigadier were also exposed. After we overturned the super-injunction, the MOD then obtained a second High Court injunction on Tuesday, preventing information from the dataset from being disclosed. Today the Government performed a U-turn enabling the Mail to reveal selected items. The super-injunction kept the public and MPs from knowing about the breach and the subsequent fallout. It was lifted after journalists fought for two years in secret courts, but on Tuesday the Mail and other media were hit with a second injunction brought by the Ministry of Defence blocking the disclosure of some information that was on it on the grounds of national security. Farcically, John Healey, the defence secretary, then revealed some of that information in Parliament. Addressing the House on Tuesday, Mr Healey gave away details that journalists had been banned from reporting on pain of being jailed. Following a hearing at the High Court on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence agreed that the media could now report that information and they would not be in breach of the injunction. Defence sources said that the dataset contains personal information belonging to special forces, spies and senior military personnel such as brigadiers and major generals who had vouched for Afghans trying to come to the UK. Emails for government officials were also included as well as email exchanges between government officials discussing individual cases. Defence sources said it also referred to a 'secret route' in which Afghans could use to come to the UK. Afghans affected by the data breach had only been sent a generic notification from the UK government saying their data had been compromised and to be careful about who they spoke to and where they travelled. Many were concerned they needed to move house to ensure they were safe. It can now be disclosed that the list included the names, family names, telephone numbers and email addresses for thousands of Afghans. It did not contain photographs or exact addresses. In some cases it did contain the last known whereabouts of Afghans in terms of which city they were in, as those desperate to flee kept in regular touch with the MoD. One principal applicant wrote to the MoD to say: 'Actually I am still here in XXX, hidden, and living alone in my XXX warehouse.' They said that 'because of so much fear, risks and insecurity to us, I am not using my cellphones a lot.'
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS UK special forces, MI6 spies and British MPs were on Afghan database that was lost by Government that obtained super-injunction to hush up the scandal
British special forces, MI6 spies and government officials were among more than 100 Britons on the lost Afghan dataset, it is understood. The Daily Mail has seen the list and can now reveal that details of scores of UK operatives were among the 18,800 Afghans. Ministers fought for two years to hush up the data blunder with an unprecedented super-injunction that silenced the Mail and other media. Today at the High Court, as journalists battled a second injunction preventing information from the dataset from being disclosed, the Government performed a U-turn enabling the Mail to reveal selected items. The database – which the Government told the court put 100,000 people 'at risk of death' from the Taliban – reveals details about special forces, MI6 agents and other highly sensitive information. This newspaper wanted to expose how the Government had lost information on UK special forces which could have put them at risk. The super-injunction kept the public and MPs from knowing about the breach and the subsequent fallout. It was lifted after journalists fought for two years in secret courts, but on Tuesday the Mail and other media were hit with a second injunction brought by the Ministry of Defence blocking the disclosure of some information that was on it on the grounds of national security. Farcically, John Healey, the defence secretary, then revealed some of that information in Parliament. Addressing the House on Tuesday, Mr Healey gave away details that journalists had been banned from reporting on pain of being jailed. Following a hearing at the High Court on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence agreed that the media could now report that information and they would not be in breach of the injunction. Defence sources said that the dataset contains personal information belonging to special forces, spies and senior military personnel such as brigadiers and major generals who had vouched for Afghans trying to come to the UK. Emails for government officials were also included as well as email exchanges between government officials discussing individual cases. Defence sources said it also referred to a 'secret route' in which Afghans could use to come to the UK. Afghans affected by the data breach had only been sent a generic notification from the UK government saying their data had been compromised and to be careful about who they spoke to and where they travelled. Many were concerned they needed to move house to ensure they were safe. It can now be disclosed that the list included the names, family names, telephone numbers and email addresses for thousands of Afghans. It did not contain photographs or exact addresses. In some cases it did contain the last known whereabouts of Afghans in terms of which city they were in, as those desperate to flee kept in regular touch with the MoD. One principal applicant wrote to the MoD to say: 'Actually I am still here in XXX, hidden, and living alone in my XXX warehouse.' They said that 'because of so much fear, risks and insecurity to us, I am not using my cellphones a lot.'
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
UK special forces carry out secret 'kill' operation against top Isis bomb-maker in Syria ahead of visit by David Lammy
British special forces mounted a secret 'kill' operation against Islamic State's top bomb-maker in Syria ahead of David Lammy 's visit, security sources have said. Abu Hasan al-Jazrawi, who was the mastermind behind 'Mad Max' suicide truck attacks on Western forces in the region, was killed on his motorbike after a Hellfire missile was unleashed from a remote-controlled Reaper drone. The 'kill' was ordered on June 10 – three weeks later, the Foreign Secretary became the first British minister in 14 years to visit the country, where he pledged a £94.5 million package in support of Syria's new government under president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Al-Jazrawi was not linked to any direct threat to Mr Lammy but he was thought to be behind a failed attack on Damascus's Shia Sayyida Zaynab shrine in March – and plotting fresh attacks. An intelligence source said: 'The country is a safer place with him gone. An attack on the FS [Foreign Secretary] would be an attack on all of us'. Last night, a No 10 source played down claims the strike had been specifically authorised by the Prime Minister, saying that under Operation Shader – the name given to the UK's participation in the battle against Islamic State – decisions over such 'kills' were delegated to the commanders. Al Jazrawi was tracked by British and American special forces to a bunker near Aleppo in western Syria. Thought to have been related to Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the leader of Islamic State in Syria, he adopted various aliases as he plotted his attacks. He created the 'Mad Max' – a reference to the Hollywood action films – suicide trucks packed with explosives and covered in steel plates which were used against Iraqi and US forces during the battle for Mosul in 2017. He is also thought to have been behind the bombing of the Christian St Elias Church in Damascus in June which killed 25 worshippers. A military source said: 'There is no indication the terrorists knew the Foreign Secretary was visiting, although it had been arranged weeks in advance and could have been leaked. 'This was a strategic initiative to protect our allies in the region and disrupt any possible attack during the minister's visit.' During his trip Mr Lammy said: 'There is renewed hope for the Syrian people, It is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians.' The first RAF Reaper MQ-9 took to the skies in Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2008. They were initially operated from the US Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, before control was switched to the UK's 13 Squadron who are based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. A Reaper drone, which is laser-guided with a range of 12,000 yards, can carry eight Hellfire missiles.
Daily Mail
27-06-2025
- Daily Mail
ROBERT HARDMAN: The staggering naivety of armchair warrior judge, as reconstruction exposes flaws in controversial SAS legal ruling
Standing on the very spot where it all happened, I am trying to envisage being part of that SAS unit who were lying just behind a low hedge here in February 1992. Three cars and a lorry full of gun-toting IRA terrorists have just screeched to a halt in front of you, the gun barrel of their Russian-built 'Dushka' heavy machine gun still hot from perforating a police station. At which point, according to a senior British judge, there was only one correct and legal course of action. The SAS commanding officer should have stood up and declared: 'Hands up! Put down your weapons. You are all under arrest.' Is it any wonder that British Special Forces veterans now warn that soldiers are more at risk from 'lawfare' than warfare? As I retrace the events of that night in slow motion, in the company of someone who knows that operation as well as anyone, I begin to despair of the creeping judicial over-reach that has now replaced common sense with legalistic wishful thinking. Short of issuing instructions that the correct way to handle a charging elephant is with a pea shooter or that the appropriate response to a great white shark is to poke it in the eye, I cannot think of a more naive idea than the solution by Mr Justice Humphreys, presiding coroner for Northern Ireland, for disarming nine men pointing a heavy machine gun at your face. Yet it is no joke. As a result, the judge has handed down a ruling at Northern Ireland's Coroner's Court which now casts serious doubt on the way in which the British state defends itself from future enemies. All is tranquil at Clonoe chapel these days, the scene little changed except that the original hedge has vanished beneath an extension to the car park. The SAS did indeed come here that night with the aim of capturing the East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA red-handed in the act of preparing an attack, though they were ready for every eventuality. And events did not go to plan. The terrorists suddenly drove in already fully armed, their headlights exposing the soldiers lying on the ground. In that split second, the commanding officer had no idea if they had been spotted. Should he gamble his men's lives by waiting to find out? Moments later, four IRA men lay dead with one injured and four more escaping. The IRA, Sinn Fein and the families of the dead now want this treated as a crime against humanity. So, 33 years on, and with £1.3million of taxpayers' money already spent on a 'legacy inquest', those SAS soldiers must wait to see if they are to be prosecuted for murder. That is because Sir Michael Humphreys (to give him his full title) has sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions having ruled that the SAS were in breach of the Human Rights Act – which did not even exist at the time. Both the Ministry of Defence and the veterans have now demanded a judicial review of the judge's decision. Sinn Fein has described any quibbling with Sir Michael's wisdom as 'disgraceful' and 'a cynical attempt to deny families truth and justice'. You do not have to probe very far to realise it would, in fact, be 'disgraceful' to let his verdict stand. For, as we reveal today, it contains multiple flaws, starting with Sir Michael's assertion that the troops had staged an 'ambush' with no serious intention of making arrests. He bases this on the fact that 'the terminology of "ambush" appears frequently in both RUC and MOD documents'. However, as both soldiers and police from that era tell me, there is a world of difference between military jargon and a legalistic dictionary definition. 'If this had been a proper ambush then it should be in every military textbook under the heading: "How not to stage an ambush",' says one senior veteran of covert operations in Northern Ireland. 'If this really had been an ambush, you would have had at least three machine guns covering what would be called "the killing zone". 'This operation had one machine gun and no "killing zone". If it really had been an SAS ambush, there is no way half of them would get away. They'd all be dead.' Moreover, 'ambush' was a general term for catching all forms of criminality. 'We used to go on border patrols to catch people smuggling cattle and butter,' says a former RUC officer of the period. 'We'd talk about a "butter ambush" or a "cattle ambush". It didn't mean we shot the cattle or opened fire on the butter.' What irks the veterans even more is the judge's flat insistence that the terrorists never fired a single shot at the SAS. The ruling makes much of the fact that the dead IRA men were found with both the 'Dushka' machine gun and their AKM (Kalashnikov) rifles switched to 'safe' mode. 'There is no evidence of any AKM weapon being fired in an exchange of gunfire,' the judge declares. 'I find, as a matter of fact, that no member of the Provisional IRA unit opened fire at the Clonoe chapel car park.' To which the response of many veterans is simply unprintable. First, even if all the guns really were in 'safe' mode, there is no way the soldiers could have known that was the case. Just minutes earlier they heard the whole lot blasting away, both at the local police station and again, en route to the car park, while firing a salute over the house of a dead IRA man. Second, the veterans argue that the weapons could easily have been switched to 'safe' as a matter of routine by the hordes of police, fireman, regular soldiers and other first responders crawling over the site. Sir Michael states: 'I have no doubt that this would have been recorded.' Not so, say the soldiers. In particular, one familiar with the 'Dushka' points out that it is a very complicated process to make it safe, requiring at least five separate movements which would be extremely difficult while clinging on to the back of a lorry careering round sharp corners. Of much greater concern is the miraculous wound suffered by the one SAS casualty that night. As 'Soldier H' jumped up from behind the hedge, he was shot in the face by a bullet which went in cleanly above his upper lip and out through his cheek. In his verdict, Sir Michael states: 'He was struck by a ricocheted bullet fired by one of his colleagues.' Again, SAS veterans shake their heads. 'You only need to see the photo of the wound to realise that this was not a ricochet,' says George Simm, SAS Regimental Sergeant-Major at the time. 'If it was, it must be the first case of a ricochet coming back at 180 degrees but with a nice neat hole.' A bullet rebounding off a hard object he says is usually an irregular shape, 'makes a hell of a mess' and very often does not exit at all. 'Besides, we were using armour-piercing rounds. What would they have been ricocheting from?' Then there is the unanswered question of the guns that got away in the two IRA cars which escaped. One car was abandoned a mile away next to the local Gaelic football stadium. The gang set it ablaze before fleeing. When the fire brigade arrived, they were pushed back by a mob who had suddenly appeared in order to ensure that any evidence was burned to a crisp. However, the report acknowledges two findings. First, all the car seats were folded down except the driver's, as would happen if a machine gunner was operating in the back. Second, a clip from a belt of machine gun ammunition was still in the car. Might this explain why four soldiers reported seeing distinct 'muzzle flashes' from the IRA? The verdict also makes repeated mention of IRA men being shot when they 'posed no threat to anyone'. Once again, the veterans suggest that this is pure guesswork by a judge-turned-tactical commander sitting at a desk three decades after the event. 'You shoot until you perceive there is no further threat and that is when you stop,' says Mr Simm, citing the occasion where he had his gun pointing at a gang who had just shot his commanding officer. As they raised their hands in the air, he did not open fire. 'Just remember this,' he says. 'The SAS arrested more IRA terrorists than they killed in Northern Ireland.' These are just few of the reasons why the SAS veterans feel that the Clonoe inquest is a turning point. Of much greater concern is the judge's overall verdict that the soldiers did not have 'an honest belief' that they needed to shoot. Perhaps more alarming still was his pronouncement that 'the operation was not planned and controlled in such a way as to minimise to the greatest extent possible the need for recourse to lethal force'. If that is now the official benchmark by which Britain's Special Forces are to operate, say the veterans, then we must take the judge at his word. Commanding officers must now make it very clear to new recruits that the most effective way to 'minimise' the possibility of killing our enemies 'to the greatest extent possible', is to avoid going anywhere near them in the first place. And whatever you do, please don't shoot. In short, the SAS set out that night to apprehend a gang assembling a gun. The judge disputes this and also says their lives were not at risk. So let us leave the final word to the IRA. In their official statement the following day, the East Tyrone Brigade 'acknowledged with pride' that four of their men had 'died gallantly in action' during 'an IRA operation'. For the avoidance of doubt, walk a few yards round the corner from the Clonoe chapel car park to the IRA plaque on the wall honouring the dead men. There is no mention of an ambush, of foul play or subterfuge. It states clearly: 'Killed On Active Service.'
