Taliban warlords are on a vengeful killing spree against hundreds of Afghans after the British Government lost a top secret database.
One man was shot by a gunman who stepped from an alley on Monday and fired four bullets at close range into his chest – one of three assassinations in the past seven days.
Panic has been spreading since Tuesday when Afghans were officially informed their personal details had been lost in the UK’s worst ever data blunder, putting 100,000 ‘at risk of death’.
Thousands received ‘notifications’ from His Majesty’s Government saying sorry, and adding: ‘We understand this news may be concerning.’
It is not known if the Taliban actually has the database, which includes names of Afghans who helped the UK, as well as members of the British intelligence community, it is understood.
But one Afghan soldier, who fled to Britain for fear of retribution, believes his brother was gunned down in the street this week because the militant group was aware of his affiliation to the UK.
He said: ‘If or when the Taliban have this list, then killings will increase – and it will be Britain’s fault. There will be many more executions like the one on Monday.’
The Mail has seen a dossier of more than 300 murders that include those who worked with the UK and some who had applied for the UK scheme, the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
A man who once translated for former Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured) told the Mail that news of the lost database had struck the ‘fear of God’ into former interpreters like him
The brother of the former interpreter (above) was beaten by the Taliban demanding to know where his brother was hiding and if he had worked for the UK
Afghans who used the government’s new webpage this week to check if they were affected by the data breach have received results like the image above
The murdered include Colonel Shafiq Ahmad Khan, a senior Afghan intelligence officer who had worked alongside British forces. The 61-year-old grandfather was lured into a trap and shot twice in the heart on his doorstep in May 2022.
Others include commando Ahjmadzai, who applied for sanctuary in the UK, and soldier Qassim, both killed in April 2023.
News of the killings comes after the media, public and MPs were kept in the dark while ministers launched evacuation mission Operation Rubific.
The Mail discovered the data breach in August 2023. Since then, 18,500 Afghans have been airlifted to Britain in secret, with 23,900 expected overall.
Yet some 75,000 Afghans will be left to fend for themselves – and were instead offered ‘advice’ on how to stay safe when the UK informed them it had lost their details.
Afghans now know that the missing dossier contains their names, phone numbers, their family’s details and other facts which could help Taliban revenge squads hunt them down.
The Mail’s revelations about the data leak and the unprecedented super-injunction to cover it up – which we spent two years fighting in secret courts – has triggered political and security storms.
So far, three parliamentary probes have been launched, with MPs expressing outrage that the Government kept them in the dark for so long. Last October ministers agreed to spend £7billion without any parliamentary debate.
Colonel Shafiq Ahmad Khan (above) was lured into a trap and shot twice in the heart on his doorstep in May 2022
Ahjmadzai (above, left), who applied for sanctuary in the UK, and Qassim (above, right), who was a soldier, were both murdered in April 2023
The missing database contains the names of 18,800 people who had applied to the ARAP scheme for loyal Afghans who had worked alongside British forces. Military interpreters saved countless British lives by being their ‘eyes and ears’ on the frontline.
In May 2024, when the High Court initially tried to lift the super-injunction, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: ‘The one thing that can be said with confidence is that affected persons would be better off learning of the data breach by notification from the UK Government than from a knock on the door by the Taliban.’
There has been fury this week as the deadly implications of the ‘double betrayal’ by Britain sunk in, with one angry former interpreter telling the Mail: ‘We risked our lives for the UK standing beside them day after day. Now they are risking our lives again.’
While the methods may change, Monday’s assassination on a quiet dust-caked street in the capital Kabul has now become a weekly occurrence. The victim’s brother was a soldier with the Afghan special forces known as the Triples who was given sanctuary in Britain.
Within an hour, news of the murder had reached the brother in Britain, who is convinced his sibling was executed because the Taliban, having been unable to kill the Triple himself, sought revenge on his family instead.
Elsewhere in the city, a day later, Taliban fighters dragged a woman from her home, beating her on the street and dumping her for neighbours to take to hospital.
A former British military interpreter who witnessed it told the Mail: ‘The woman’s husband worked for the West and it was punishment for that work. He is hiding in Iran and they told her it was because he worked with “infidels”.’
The murder of the soldier’s brother and the beating of the woman took place in the hours before the lifting of the super-injunction, and it is unknown if any of the victims featured on the lost list.
The Taliban boasted this week that they had obtained the leaked data, although this could not be verified.
Mohammed, a former interpreter who once translated for former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is now in Britain. He said news of the lost database had spread like wildfire since Tuesday, striking the ‘fear of god’ into former interpreters like him.
Mohammed, 38, who was pictured with Mr Brown in Afghanistan, said: ‘This has changed everything. In the past the Taliban did not often have confirmation that an Afghan worked for the UK, or what his role was, but now we know it is on the dataset together with our family members. It is a gift that leads to death.’
Last night the MoD referred the Mail to a statement made by Defence Secretary John Healy in the Commons on Tuesday.
He said: ‘My 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.
‘The MoD has done that this morning. Anyone who may be concerned can head to our new dedicated gov.uk website, where they will find more information about the data loss, further security advice, a self-checker tool, which will inform them whether their application has been affected, and contact steps for the detailed information services centre that the MoD has established.
