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.

The details of more than 100 Britons, including spies and special forces personnel, were included in a massive data breach involving thousands of Afghans, UK media reported on Thursday. The information was included in the mistakenly released spreadsheet, British newspapers reported, citing unnamed defence sources.