An Afghan bomb maker’s hopes of successfully suing the British Army for breaching his human rights were dealt a devastating blow in a legal ruling by the UK’s highest court.

Serdar Mohammed, a senior Taliban commander, is bringing a legal case against the Government over his 106-day detention at a time when the British troops were suffering the worst casualties of the Afghan campaign.

Lower courts had ruled that Mohammed should have been held for no longer than 96 hours without charge, paving the way for hundreds of other Taliban and Iraqi insurgents to bring legal claims against the Ministry of Defence.

But the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment said the Army had every right to hold Mohammed, who is accused of making explosives on an ‘industrial scale’ - for longer than 96 hours “for imperative reasons of security”.