A former senior SAS officer in Afghanistan has said that the Government has “blood on its hands” over the deaths of four soldiers killed by a roadside bomb.

Major Sebastian Morley, who resigned last October from his post as the most senior reservist SAS officer in Afghanistan, said that army commanders and Whitehall officials ignored his warnings that “unsafe” vehicles would lead to the deaths of soldiers.

Major Morley, 40, stood down after what he called the “unnecessary deaths” of four soldiers when their Snatch Land Rover hit an anti-tank mine in Helmand province in June last year. Among the dead was Corporal Sarah Bryant, the first servicewoman to be killed in Afghanistan.

Major Morley accused Quentin Davies, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, of telling an “unacceptable lie” when he said after the deaths that commanders could choose which vehicles they used in combat.

“I had to resign,” he said. “I had warned [the Ministry of Defence] time and time again that there were going to be needless deaths if we were not given the right equipment, and they ignored this advice. There is blood on their hands.”

Mr Davies later expressed regret if he had caused offence by his comments that casulaties had resulted from commanders choosing the “wrong piece of equipment”.

But Major Morley said: “A government minister is on record telling a lie about four deaths, and this is unacceptable. For him to reverse his position now is too little too late.

“To accuse an operational commander of having a choice, and for that man to have made a choice that led to death, is to accuse him of negligence.

“There was no other vehicle to use. The simple truth is that the protection of these vehicles is inadequate and this led to the unnecessary deaths.”

He also referred to the Snatch Land Rover as a “mobile coffin”.

Major Morley told The Daily Telegraph that operations in Afghanistan were “worthless” and said: “This is the equivalent to the start of the Vietnam conflict – there is much more to come. We hold tiny areas of ground in Helmand and we are kidding oursleves if we think our influence goes beyond 500 metres of our security bases. It’s just crazy to think we hold that ground or have any influcence on what goes on beyond the bases.

An MoD spokesman said: “UK forces are better equipped than ever before, with new technology and state-of-the-art armoured vehicles continuing to arrive in Afghanistan.

“The clear advice of commanders is that Snatch remains mission critical for certain roles. We accept that Snatch is not suitable for high-risk environments, but it is adequate for the job it is given.

“It is true that in an area the size of Helmand province there is a limit to how much ground we can hold. But that does not mean we are not making progress. We are.”

Over the past four years 37 British troops have been killed in Snatch Land Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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