SEVENTEEN British troops had to undergo amputations last year, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) refuses to say where the gruesome injuries took place.

The department would only confirm the wounds did not relate to Iraq or Afghanistan, and occured some time between April 2018 and March 2019.

The MoD said amputations could range from losing a fingertip to “the loss of entire limbs.”

The secrecy has caused fears that some of the amputations may refer to special forces soldiers fighting behind enemy lines.

In March the Mail on Sunday revealed that five Special Boat Service men had been wounded in Yemen.

The paper’s sources said one was shot in the leg and another in the hand.

And in January Kurdish media claimed five Special Air Service men were injured in Syria, with one soldier being hit in the throat by shrapnel.

Phillip Clarke from Veterans for Peace told the Morning Star that some of the injuries could have happened away from the front line, “but 17 considering how many people are in the army, it does seem that there’s probably more than natural causes or training accidents.

“The MoD should be far more transparent and acknowledge where our troops are,” he said.

“We know they are operating secretly in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Libya, but the MoD doesn’t comment on activities around special forces.

“Our MPs have got a right to scrutinise them and we should know where our troops are fighting on our behalf, because we need to be able to challenge the choices our government takes so we can make informed decisions when it comes to the next election.

“We live in a democracy, we shouldn’t be fighting secret wars.”

But last night the MoD denied any of the injuries were from covert opertations.

A spokesperson told the Morning Star: “Amputation may be a necessary course of action for minor accidents or training injuries and is not necessarily linked to conflict.

“The vast majority of amputations recorded last year were the result of injuries sustained in a non-operational environment.

“It is incorrect to suggest amputations were the result of fighting in undeclared conflict.”