BRITISH special forces stationed in Afghanistan are to be investigated after they were caught using a picture of Jeremy Corbyn for target practice.

Footage of troops from the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment at a shooting range in Kabul were posted on social media site Snapchat with the label “happy with that”.

Corbyn said he was “shocked”.

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

“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.”

WATCH: Shocking video surfaces of soldiers using Corbyn for target practice

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the video was “appalling and the MOD is right to launch a full investigation.”

John Bercow said he “would be horrified if our service personnel were to behave in such a way in relation to any member of this House or the representative of any political point of view embodied in a democratic political party.”

“It’s simply an unconscionable way to behave,” he added.

Commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, Nick Perry, said the Army would conduct a full investigation, and is “obviously taking this extremely seriously”.

“The video shows totally unacceptable behaviour and a serious error of judgment that falls far below the behaviour that we expect of our soldiers in the brigade.”

He added: “This is a serious error of judgment. Let me be clear – the Army is, and always will be, an apolitical organisation.

“We have 400 soldiers from the Brigade conducting force protection in Afghanistan and working closely with both Nato and Afghan partners. These soldiers are doing an outstanding job out there.”

Glasgow North East Labour MP Paul Sweeney, who served as an Army Reserve soldier for 12 years, described the video as “shameful.”

He said: “This is deeply worrying. It’s been almost three years now since Jo Cox was tragically assassinated on the streets of this country by a right-wing fascist, and that’s a real threat to democracy.

“What we’ve seen is a stoking up of hatred, of very partisan speech, of identity politics, of trying to discredit on a very fundamental level your political opponents, and I think that’s something that’s shameful.

“We need to really address it because clearly it’s bleeding into the population in really negative ways.

He continued: “We’re seeing soldiers in the British Army, in the Parachute Regiment demonstrating that sort of willingness to behave in that way. They have values and standards.

“I was a former Army Reservist so I know exactly what is expected of the British soldiers.

“What they’ve done is totally at odds with that. It’s a shameful act which destroys the reputation of the British Army.

“They need to be held to account for that action, but it demonstrates a more worrying trend in our society, where we’re prepared to see that kind of behaviour enacted against a key part of our democracy.

“Whether you like him or not, Jeremy Corbyn is the Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition in Parliament, and Parliament is the supreme democratic body in this country.”

On Twitter, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said he commended the “prompt and clear leadership shown by the Army in investigating this troubling video”.

The soldiers in the film were defended by the former Sergeant who shared the video online. Trevor Coult told the Daily Mail it was just a “silly stunt”.

“This is a training video that went wrong. The person who put this online has done it out of mischief, not spite,” he said.

“But if people are saying the Paras are trying to kill the Labour leader then it is outrageous.

“I will stand by these young lads. You can’t do this in the armed forces and it was inappropriate and it got out of hand.

He continued: “It should never have gone online. But it was tomfoolery, nothing serious.

“There should not be an investigation. They should get a slap on the wrist for being so stupid, and then we should get on with it.

“Sometimes young people do silly things and we need to remember that. It’s just a silly stunt that backfired.”