More than 16,000 Afghans were secretly brought to the UK in the largest covert peacetime evacuation after the MoD put them in danger of being targeted by the Taliban. Social affairs correspondent Holl

Over 18,000 Afghan citizens eligible to relocate to the UK under a government programme to protect them from the Taliban were put at risk in a heretofore unreportable data breach.

Sean Humber, from law firm Leigh Day, said that a data breach of thousands of Afghans’ personal information was ‘catastrophic’.

Our community has reacted with anger, disbelief and deep concern to revelations that a catastrophic Ministry of Defence data breach, which put tens of thousands of Afghans at risk, was kept hidden under a superinjunction for nearly two years,

The identities of more than 100 British officials, including members of the special forces and MI6, were compromised in a data breach that also put thousands of Afghans at risk of reprisal, it can be reported. The latest fallout from the breach was kept secret by an injunction until Thursday, when the order was lifted in part by a High Court judge.