The Guardian

Revealed: clandestine actions of mercenaries during Thatcher years

Keenie Meenie Services was active from Sri Lanka to Nicaragua – and Foreign Office could not rein it in, book claims
KMS included SAS veterans of situations such as the 1980 Iranian embassy siege in London. Photograph: Sipa Press/REX/Shutterstock

A British mercenary company established by former SAS veterans conducted clandestine and highly controversial operations around the world, with successive British governments either unwilling or unable to rein it in, a new book reveals.

Keenie Meenie Services (KMS) was one of Britain’s first mercenary companies, believed to have taken its name from Arabic slang for “undercover”. It was set up in the 1970s and recruited veterans

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