SPECIAL forces based in Poole have won the right to anonymity even after death, it has emerged.

The head of Special Forces has intervened so SAS and SBS soldiers are not named over fears it was damaging the units' morale.

The soldiers will not now be named in coroners' inquests but only referred to as Soldier "A" or "B" to avoid unwelcome media attention for their families.

The Special Boat Service (SBS) is based at the Royal Marine base in Hamworthy, Poole, and is estimated to have up to 300 members.

The unit, whose motto is "By strength and guile", specialises in water-based reconnaissance and it is understood to be mostly operating in Afghanistan.

Special Forces soldiers have usually been named after death but said to have been from the unit from which they were recruited, for example the Parachute Regiment or the Royal Marines.

The new naming policy is expected to be announced next month and is understood to be already in force after two members of the SAS killed in a crash near Baghdad in November were not named.

The origins of the SBS, formerly known as the Special Boat Squadron, lie in the small reconnaissance and sabotage units deployed in the Second World War.

Famous former officers include former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown, who lived in Napier Road, Hamworthy.

He commanded attacks on communist forces in the jungles of Malaya and raids on the border between Borneo and Indonesia.

The SBS was the first force to land on the Falkland Islands in the 1982 war with Argentina, and was thought to have been responsible for recapturing South Georgia.