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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Soldiers' bodies are flown home | Soldiers' bodies are flown home |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The bodies of six UK servicemen - five of whom were shot by a "rogue" Afghan policeman - have been flown home. | The bodies of six UK servicemen - five of whom were shot by a "rogue" Afghan policeman - have been flown home. |
| Guardsman Jimmy Major, Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Sgt Matthew Telford, Cpl Steven Boote and Cpl Nicholas Webster-Smith died in last Tuesday's incident. | Guardsman Jimmy Major, Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Sgt Matthew Telford, Cpl Steven Boote and Cpl Nicholas Webster-Smith died in last Tuesday's incident. |
| The coffins arrived at RAF Lyneham, Wilts, along with that of Sjt Phillip Scott, who died in a blast on Thursday. | |
| After a private service for families, a cortege will then pass through nearby Wootton Bassett. | After a private service for families, a cortege will then pass through nearby Wootton Bassett. |
| Hundreds of people are once again expected to line the streets to pay silent respects, as has become customary when fallen services personnel are returned. | |
| AT THE SCENE Paul Deal, BBC News | |
| A grey mist hung over the market town of Wootton Bassett and seemed to match the mood of the hundreds of people huddled against the November chill and drizzle beneath umbrellas. | |
| The veterans who make up the town's 114-strong branch of the Royal British Legion could have been excused if they had stayed at home by the fire on such a miserable afternoon. | |
| But they had a solemn duty to perform - to salute the latest victims of the conflict in Afghanistan on their final journey. | |
| It was three members of the Legion who saw a hearse pass through the town without ceremony a couple of years back. The branch decided that the return of the nation's fallen service people should be solemnly marked. | |
| Today, the 98th such repatriation took place. People came from across the country, old soldiers and civilians alike, shocked and saddened by the circumstances of the men's deaths. | |
| Six other British personnel and two Afghan police officers were injured when the five men were shot dead at a national police checkpoint in the Nad Ali district of Helmand Province. | Six other British personnel and two Afghan police officers were injured when the five men were shot dead at a national police checkpoint in the Nad Ali district of Helmand Province. |
| The gunman fled the compound afterwards and remains at large. | The gunman fled the compound afterwards and remains at large. |
| WO Chant, 40, from east London; Sgt Telford, 37, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire; and Guardsman Major, 18, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, were from the Grenadier Guards. | WO Chant, 40, from east London; Sgt Telford, 37, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire; and Guardsman Major, 18, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, were from the Grenadier Guards. |
| Territorial Army volunteer Cpl Boote, 22, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, and Cpl Webster-Smith, 24, of Brackley, Northamptonshire - formerly of Pembrokeshire - were from the Royal Military Police. | Territorial Army volunteer Cpl Boote, 22, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, and Cpl Webster-Smith, 24, of Brackley, Northamptonshire - formerly of Pembrokeshire - were from the Royal Military Police. |
| Sjt Scott, 30, who was born in Malton, North Yorkshire, and lived in Edinburgh, died during an explosives clearance operation in Sangin, Helmand. | Sjt Scott, 30, who was born in Malton, North Yorkshire, and lived in Edinburgh, died during an explosives clearance operation in Sangin, Helmand. |
| David Smith, 83, travelled to Wootton Bassett from South Ham, Basingstoke, Hampshire, and has done so for 14 previous repatriations. | |
| His wife, Joyce, said: "It is a 100-mile round trip but David served in the Army during the Second World War and in Singapore with the RAF so he feels he needs to be here. | |
| "He just decided one morning that he was going to come for the repatriation of eight soldiers and has been here ever since to respect them coming through for all that they have done. | |
| Gordon Brown: "Each life lost is an irreplaceable loss from a family" | |
| "We are here to support the families. If someone needs a shoulder to lean on, we are there for them and to recognise what is going on in the world." | |
| Brian Freeth, 72, standard bearer for the South Staffordshire 4 Group of the Royal British Legion, served in Suez between 1955 and 1957. | |
| He said: "It hits you more today because there are so many coming back. | |
| "What happened to those five lads was sheer murder. When I am standing over the road with my standard high and I see all those families I cannot begin to imagine what they feel." |