At least ten Afghans who supported British forces have reportedly been killed by the Taliban in the wake of a massive UK government data breach, raising grave concerns about the handling of sensitive personal information. The revelations were detailed in The Times UK and the Daily Mail, which reported that the victims include four individuals executed and dumped in a ditch after being forced out of hiding in Iran.
While it remains unclear whether those killed were directly named in the leaked documents, experts have warned that the deaths mark a disturbing increase in Taliban reprisals. “There have been more deaths today,” a source told the Mail on Monday, less than a week after the breach was publicly disclosed.
One particularly chilling incident occurred on Friday, when the brother of an Afghan special forces soldier — who had fought alongside the SAS — was shot dead. According to the serviceman’s lawyer, the killing was a direct result of the soldier being named in the leaked data.
The original breach, which occurred in February 2022, exposed the details of over 18,000 Afghan applicants to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme — as well as those of more than 100 UK special forces operatives, MI6 agents, and senior government officials. The information remained under wraps due to a court-imposed superinjunction, which was only lifted last week following legal challenges from The Times and other media outlets.
A senior Taliban official later claimed that the group had obtained the leaked list as early as 2022, and had been using it as a “kill list” ever since. This assertion casts further doubt on the UK government’s ability to contain the fallout from the breach.
Sean Humber, a solicitor at Leigh Day representing 50 Afghan clients seeking compensation, said, “There is genuine confusion over how widely the Taliban had access to the list. But legally, these are strong claims. The government failed to protect sensitive personal data — a serious and unacceptable breach.”
Despite these claims, the Ministry of Defence has insisted that simply appearing on the leaked spreadsheet was unlikely to be the sole reason for Taliban targeting. An independent review conducted by retired civil servant Paul Rimmer supported this view, though it did acknowledge that the data release could worsen risks already faced by Afghans.
Rimmer’s report also warned of broader challenges, suggesting that the resettlement of 24,000 Afghans in the UK could strain local services, increase homelessness, and possibly even lead to radicalisation. Concerns over national security and the handling of the leak have now triggered a formal investigation by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), chaired by Lord Beamish.
Beamish confirmed that the ISC will launch an inquiry into how the UK intelligence community managed the sensitive data. He also criticised the government’s decision to withhold key defence assessments from MPs, calling the matter a “serious constitutional issue”.
The £850 million Arap scheme — kept secret from both Parliament and the public due to the superinjunction — was designed to resettle Afghans who had aided British operations during the two-decade war. The Taliban’s return to power in 2021, following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces, has since left many of those allies in mortal danger.
As the investigation continues, legal proceedings and political scrutiny are intensifying. In the meantime, lawyers, aid groups, and Afghan families are left grappling with the lethal consequences of a failure to safeguard those who risked everything to support British forces.
