Jeremy Corbyn ‘shocked’ an image of his face used for target practice by paratroopers in Afghanistan

Jeremy Corbyn has said he was “shocked” that paratroopers in Afghanistan used an image of his face for target practice.

The Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into the conduct of the personnel from 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, who were filmed in Kabul shooting at a picture of the Labour leader.

Mr Corbyn said: “I’m shocked, obviously, that this sort of thing has happened.

“I hope the Ministry of Defence will conduct an inquiry into it and find out what was going on and who did that.”

Referring to the threats against Labour MP Rosie Cooper, who was the target of a neo-Nazi murder plot, and the atmosphere in British politics, Mr Corbyn added: “Yes people have disagreements and yes people have divisions.

“Conduct those divisions and disagreements in a respectful way. Don’t descend into something ugly and violent.”

An Army spokesman said on Wednesday they were aware of the video circulating on social media. 

“This behaviour is totally unacceptable and falls well below the high standards the army expects, a full investigation has been launched,” he added.

The video shows a number of soldiers taking aim down the range and firing their weapons – the camera then focuses on the target and zooms in on an image of Mr Corbyn.

With a graphic of “happy with that” across the screen throughout, a number of marks can be seen peppered across Mr Corbyn’s face.

It is understood it was a non-lethal hardened wax substance aimed and fired at the image instead of metal bullets, with the incident taking place in the past few days.

The range is designed for and used by personnel to practice what is called the “guardian angel drill” – a force protection tactic.

Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith slammed the video on Twitter, describing it as “shocking and completely unacceptable”.

“Right that the Army is carrying out a full investigation,” she added.