Hundreds honour fallen soldiers

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Hundreds of people have gathered to watch a procession of coffins carrying the bodies of four UK soldiers killed on operations in Afghanistan.

Cpl Kevin Mulligan, 26, L/Cpl Dale Hopkins, 23, Pte Kyle Adams, 21, and Pte Jason Williams, 23, died in Helmand Province earlier this month.

They were repatriated to RAF Lyneham, where a ceremony was held for families.

Hearses then carried them through Wootton Bassett, Wilts, as has become customary for fallen service personnel.

Townsfolk and forces veterans gathered along the High Street to pay their respects as church bells tolled to greet the cortege.

Standard bearers lowered regimental flags and former members of the Parachute Regiment saluted as the hearses stopped briefly at the town's war memorial.

A ceremony for the families of the four servicemen was held at RAF Lyneham

Some onlookers placed flowers on the vehicles' roofs, before the procession continued to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

The home towns of Cpl Mulligan, L/Cpl Hopkins and Pte Adams, from the Parachute Regiment, have not been revealed.

They were killed when their Jackal armoured vehicle was hit by an explosion north of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province on 6 August.

The men, who were working with special forces, were carrying out a routine security patrol with Afghan forces when the vehicle was struck by the blast before coming under small arms fire from insurgents.

It is understood that they belonged to the Special Forces Support Group, which was formed in 2006 to assist SAS and Special Boat Service missions.

'Selfless sacrifice'

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth paid tribute to the "highly gifted" Paras and lamented their loss as a "heavy blow".

Pte Williams, from Worcester, of the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was killed in Helmand on Saturday while trying to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade.

He was struck by an improvised explosive device during an operation to secure an area where three Afghan soldiers had been killed earlier in the day.

The coffins were returned to RAF Lyneham ahead of the parade

One of the dead could not be found and British troops were trying to prevent the body falling into the hands of insurgents.

Pte Williams's commanding officer, Lt Col Simon Banton, praised his bravery and "selfless sacrifice".

The BBC's Jon Kay said the people of Wootton Bassett had vowed to continue the custom of closing the shops and lining the streets to pay respects to the dead.

"As the hearses make their way through, everything stops and everything is silent as people here pay their tribute," he said.

"They say they will continue to do that and make it special for every family, every group of relatives who wants to come here and experience it... regardless of how many times they have done it before and how familiar it may have become."