Soldier characters in dumb leaked story (7)

I believe the answer is:

parable

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'story' is the definition.
(I know that parable is a type of story)

'soldier characters in' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'para' (paratrooper).
'characters in' becomes 'ble' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'para'+'ble'='PARABLE'

'dumb leaked' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for parable that I've seen before include "Story illustrating moral lesson" , "Moral-carrying story" , "Gospel story" , "Meaningful story" , "scripture lesson" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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