A former SAS soldier yesterday won a three year fight to publish a book about an ill-fated patrol during the Gulf war but was told any profits he made from it must go to the Ministry of Defence.

The soldier, who uses the pseudonym Mike Coburn, was told by the New Zealand appeal court he could publish his book, Soldier 5, on the grounds of freedom of speech and because the information contained in it was already in the public domain.

However, while it overturned the ban obtained by the MoD, the court ruled Coburn had broken a contract of confidentiality he had signed before he left the SAS.

The decision comes at a time of unprecedented publicity about the activities of SAS troops, some of whom were involved in operations which led to the killing of hundreds of anti-Taliban fighters near Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

Yesterday, the MoD obtained an injunction preventing newspapers from naming four SAS soldiers injured last week in operations against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in southern Afghanistan. Though the injunction specifically mentions the Sun, it applies to the media as a whole.

The ministry imposed individual secrecy contracts on all serving members of the SAS in 1996 after the publication of a spate of books by former special forces soldiers, notably by other members of his patrol, Bravo Two Zero, who were dropped behind Iraqi lines during the 1991 Gulf war.

Coburn, who served in the SAS from 1990 to 1997, said he signed the confidentiality contract under duress after the MoD threatened to force him out of the SAS unless he agreed.

He was tortured by Iraqi guards during his 48 days as a prisoner during the Gulf war.

The botched Bravo Two Zero mission has already inspired two bestselling accounts, by patrol leader Andy McNab and another member, Chris Ryan, the only one of the eight man team to have escaped.

Both soldiers had left the force by the time the MoD introduced the confidentiality agreements designed to prevent the publication of further accounts of undercover missions without the permission of senior officers.

During earlier open sessions in the New Zealand courts, Coburn - called Mark the Kiwi in McNab's book - accused senior officers of issuing the Bravo Two Zero patrol with faulty equipment, dropping it too close to enemy lines, and delaying a rescue attempt because the men were "expendable".

Coburn claimed they were told by their commander on their return they were lucky not to have been court-martialled. Three of the eight-man patrol were killed, four were captured and tortured.

He said he wanted to set the record straight and restore the reputation of Vince Phillips, a member of the SAS patrol who was killed and whose suitability for the mission has been criticised by one of the patrol as well as in a leaked SAS report.

The MoD yesterday welcomed the court's decision to uphold the confidentiality contracts, a decision Coburn described as "surprising and disturbing".

His lawyer, Warren Templeton, said Coburn had intended that profits would be shared between the families of the SAS soldiers who died on the mission and those members who had not written books.

"What the MoD will be doing if they claim the profits is to deprive the families of those who died," said Mr Templeton.

An interim injunction preventing publication of Soldier 5, will remain in force for another 14 days so both sides can decide whether they want to take further action.

Mr Coburn has 21 days to consider an appeal, which could lead to the case being heard before the privy council.