A crack SAS team has captured two top Taliban commanders without a shot being fired in a secret dawn raid in Afghanistan.

The 12 elite troops seized Maulawi Rahman and Maulawi Mohammed at a high-walled compound north of the remote town of Babaji in Helmand province…

‘These are very significant arrests of two of the Taliban’s key commanders. They are at the top of the Taliban hierarchy and among their most ¬senior figures.

‘Their detention is a damaging blow to the insurgents and will severely downgrade their ¬ability to direct operations in Afghanistan.’