Six soldiers killed in Afghanistan named
Updated on 12 July 2009
The names and faces of six British soldiers killed in Friday in southern Afghanistan have been revealed, after one of the bloodiest days of the conflict so far. Watch Faisal Islam's report.
Three of the soldiers were just 18-years-old, several died as they tried to help wounded colleagues hurt in a previous explosion.
The Ministry of Defence named six more of the dead, including five members of 2nd Battalion The Rifles, who were killed on Friday during a foot patrol near the town of Sangin in central Helmand.
They were Corporal Jonathan Horne, 28, Rifleman Daniel Simpson, 20, and three 18-year-olds: Rifleman William Aldridge, Rifleman James Backhouse, and Rifleman Joseph Murphy.
Also named today was Corporal Lee Scott, 26, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment who died in an explosion near Nad-e-Ali in Helmand on the same day.
Two soldiers killed on Thursday were named yesterday as Rifleman Daniel Hume, 22, of 4th Battalion The Rifles, and Private John Brackpool, 27, of Prince of Wales' Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.
Gordon Brown paid tribute to the "sacrifice" of the 15 troops who'd lost their lives, saying British forces were doing a magnificent job.
The prime minister described the mission as a "patriotic duty" to keep the streets of Britain safe from the threat of terrorist attack and insisted there were signs of success.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been speaking to Colonel Richard Kemp, who was the commander of British forces in Afghanistan in 2003.
He asked him for his reaction the news that three of the latest casualties were only 18-years-old.
