Bodies of six soldiers to return home

The bodies of six soldiers killed in Afghanistan are expected to be returned to the UK this week.

Sergeant Nigel Coupe, 33, of 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, and Corporal Jake Hartley, 20, Private Anthony Frampton, 20, Private Christopher Kershaw, 19, Private Daniel Wade, 20, and Private Daniel Wilford, 21 – all of 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment – are likely to be flown back to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Thursday.

A private service will then be held at the base’s chapel before the cortège passes through nearby Carterton en route to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The six men died when a Taleban roadside bomb destroyed their Warrior armoured vehicle in Helmand province last Tuesday.

It became the deadliest single enemy attack on UK forces in Afghanistan since 2001 and takes the death toll to 404.

The soldiers, who had only been in Afghanistan for a few weeks, were hit by the blast about 25 miles north of the capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gah. The force of the explosion turned the Warrior upside down and blew off its gun turret. Ammunition on board ignited, causing a fierce fire that burned for many hours.