Grim tradition played out again as 5 more soldiers die in Afghanistan

Hundreds turned out to pay their respects yesterday as the bodies of two of the men – including the highest ranking army officer to die on operations since the Falklands – were returned to the UK.

Tributes were also paid to three soldiers killed in separate attacks in southern Helmand Province over the weekend.

All five men were taking part in Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw, a massive mission to improve security ahead of the Afghan presidential election next month.

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, 39, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, and Trooper Joshua Hammond, 18, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, died in a blast near Lashkar Gah in Helmand on Wednesday. Their bodies were flown to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire yesterday before being driven through the nearby town of Wootton Bassett in what has become a grim tradition.

Under overcast skies and amid heavy showers, crowds of soldiers and civilians stood side by side with heads bowed as the cortge passed.

Among them was General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, who was "absolutely humbled" by the turnout. "Those five soldiers that we have lost have all been playing their part in a really significant operation," he said.

"We need to press to create greater areas of security and stability in southern Afghanistan so we can spread the wider effects of our operation – redevelopment, reconstruction and to recruit the rule of law to create stable elections next month.

"It comes at a price – of course it does – and that's tragic. But we will succeed, we must succeed, and everyone is very focused on the mission. I salute each and every one of the five and their memories that have passed over the last few days."

Lance-Corporal David Dennis, 29, of the Light Dragoons, and Private Robert Laws, 18, of 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, died in Helmand on Saturday. L-Cpl Dennis, from Llanelli, South Wales, had just helped secure a helicopter landing site so casualties could be airlifted away for treatment when he was killed by a bomb. The soldier – known as "Duke" – joined the army as a gunner in 2003 and served in Iraq before his second tour to Afghanistan this year.

Lieutenant Colonel Gus Fair, commanding officer of the Light Dragoons Battle Group,

said L-Cpl Dennis had been deeply affected by the death of his friend L-Cpl Nigel Moffett, 28, of the Light Dragoons, from Belfast, earlier in the tour.

Pte Laws, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was killed when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

He had reached the front line within a year of starting his basic army training, deploying to Afghanistan only a few days after his 18th birthday. His parents and close family said they were "immensely proud" of their "popular and loving son".

Pte Daniel Eaglesfield, who trained alongside Pte Laws, said: "We used to talk a lot about our girlfriends back at home and how much we loved them.

"He was planning to take his girlfriend to Paris when the tour was over. Robbie was like a brother to me."

Another soldier, from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed by an explosion while on foot in Helmand on Sunday. He had not been named last night.

The deaths took the number of UK service personnel killed in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 to 174.