diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go
index 127ac8b05..0a195f796 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go
@@ -94,34 +94,22 @@ func runForget(opts ForgetOptions, gopts GlobalOptions, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	removeSnapshots := 0
-
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(gopts.ctx)
 	defer cancel()
 
 	var snapshots restic.Snapshots
+	removeSnIDs := restic.NewIDSet()
 
 	for sn := range FindFilteredSnapshots(ctx, repo, opts.Hosts, opts.Tags, opts.Paths, args) {
 		snapshots = append(snapshots, sn)
 	}
 
+	var jsonGroups []*ForgetGroup
+
 	if len(args) > 0 {
 		// When explicit snapshots args are given, remove them immediately.
 		for _, sn := range snapshots {
-			if !opts.DryRun {
-				h := restic.Handle{Type: restic.SnapshotFile, Name: sn.ID().String()}
-				if err = repo.Backend().Remove(gopts.ctx, h); err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-				if !gopts.JSON {
-					Verbosef("removed snapshot %v\n", sn.ID().Str())
-				}
-				removeSnapshots++
-			} else {
-				if !gopts.JSON {
-					Verbosef("would have removed snapshot %v\n", sn.ID().Str())
-				}
-			}
+			removeSnIDs.Insert(*sn.ID())
 		}
 	} else {
 		snapshotGroups, _, err := restic.GroupSnapshots(snapshots, opts.GroupBy)
@@ -151,8 +139,6 @@ func runForget(opts ForgetOptions, gopts GlobalOptions, args []string) error {
 				Verbosef("Applying Policy: %v\n", policy)
 			}
 
-			var jsonGroups []*ForgetGroup
-
 			for k, snapshotGroup := range snapshotGroups {
 				if gopts.Verbose >= 1 && !gopts.JSON {
 					err = PrintSnapshotGroupHeader(gopts.stdout, k)
@@ -191,37 +177,37 @@ func runForget(opts ForgetOptions, gopts GlobalOptions, args []string) error {
 
 				jsonGroups = append(jsonGroups, &fg)
 
-				removeSnapshots += len(remove)
-
-				if !opts.DryRun {
-					for _, sn := range remove {
-						h := restic.Handle{Type: restic.SnapshotFile, Name: sn.ID().String()}
-						err = repo.Backend().Remove(gopts.ctx, h)
-						if err != nil {
-							return err
-						}
-					}
-				}
-			}
-
-			if gopts.JSON {
-				err = printJSONForget(gopts.stdout, jsonGroups)
-				if err != nil {
-					return err
+				for _, sn := range remove {
+					removeSnIDs.Insert(*sn.ID())
 				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	if removeSnapshots > 0 && opts.Prune {
-		if !gopts.JSON {
-			Verbosef("%d snapshots have been removed, running prune\n", removeSnapshots)
-		}
+	if len(removeSnIDs) > 0 {
 		if !opts.DryRun {
-			return pruneRepository(gopts, repo)
+			err := DeleteFilesChecked(gopts, repo, removeSnIDs, restic.SnapshotFile)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		} else {
+			if !gopts.JSON {
+				Printf("Would have removed the following snapshots:\n%v\n\n", removeSnIDs)
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
+	if gopts.JSON && len(jsonGroups) > 0 {
+		err = printJSONForget(gopts.stdout, jsonGroups)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	if len(removeSnIDs) > 0 && opts.Prune && !opts.DryRun {
+		return pruneRepository(gopts, repo)
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }