REPORTS that British special forces are taking part in “gun battles” in Yemen alongside Saudi-funded militias who use child soldiers will be the subject of an internal investigation, the government claimed today.

Foreign Office Minister Mark Field came under pressure from Labour and Conservative MPs who were alarmed by a report in last weekend’s Mail on Sunday (MoS).

The newspaper claimed that five members of Britain’s ultra-secret Special Boat Service — the SAS’s naval counterpart — have been shot while serving in Yemen, although Britain is not officially at war with that country.