A data breach exposes thousands of Afghans who have settled in the UK and British troops

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of Afghans, British troops and civil servants may have fallen victim to another data breach, according to a firm linked to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.

The Jet Centre, which provides ground handling for flights, said late Friday that it suffered a data security incident which led to “unauthorised access to a limited number of company emails.”

About 3,700 individuals are thought to be potentially affected by the incident, including Afghans who were brought to the U.K. Troops traveling to routine military exercises and journalists accompanying government ministers on official engagements are also among the potential victims.

In a previous incident, some Afghans who fought alongside British forces before the Taliban swept back to power had their data leaked after an official released the details of 18,714 individuals “in error” in February 2022.

Afghans who had worked with Western forces as fixers, translators and in other roles have sought refuge outside their country. Britain set up a program, known as the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, or ARAP, to bring some to the U.K.