But relatives of Afghans named in the leak told the BBC that they fear for their family still in the country, with one saying efforts by the Taliban to find their named relative intensified following the leak. An MoD spokesperson said: "It's longstanding policy of successive governments to not comment on special forces.

Details about the blunder can finally be made public after a judge lifted a court injunction that had been sought by the government.

The government spent nearly two years using an unprecedented superinjunction to prevent the public from learning about a catastrophic Ministry of Defence data breach that exposed the personal details of thousands of Afghans who had worked with UK forces.