UK arrests army officer for secrets leak in Afghanistan

A senior British army officer serving in Afghanistan has been arrested on suspicion of leaking official secrets, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday.

The officer, a colonel, was arrested by military police on February 1 and is being returned to Britain for further questioning.

"We can confirm that a British army officer has been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act," a spokesman at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. "The investigation has been referred from the MoD to the Metropolitan Police."

A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said he was aware of the matter but at this stage no investigation had been opened.

It was not clear how long the officer had been serving in Afghanistan or where he was deployed when he was detained.

Britain's Sun newspaper reported that the officer was arrested on suspicion of leaking figures on civilian deaths.

The issue of Afghan civilian deaths in air strikes has become highly sensitive for US and Nato forces, who are accused by Afghan officials of bombing indiscriminately.

More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, according to figures released by the United Nations on Tuesday, a 40 per cent increase on 2007.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said it had no comment on the officer's arrest.

British Defence Secretary John Hutton declined to comment when asked about the case at a news briefing after addressing Nato ambassadors during a visit to Brussels.

"I am not going to comment in any way about this particular incident, because there is a proper process to be followed in the UK," he said.

Last November, a British soldier who served as a translator for a British general in Afghanistan was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of spying for Iran.