'Morally anorexic' insurgents blamed for deaths of three RAF servicemen

Major Mike Shearer, the UK forces spokesman in Basra, revealed that the airport base in the city which the men were guarding was fired on indiscriminately from the road.

The type of weapon used has not been revealed, but it was described as an "indirect fire attack", a term normally used to refer to mortars or rockets.

Several other military personnel were injured.

"There doesn't appear to be a lot of science involved in firing these munitions," said Major Shearer.

"These road militia are, quite frankly, morally anorexic. The day before, three civilians were injured on the streets of Basra due to mortar fire. At the risk of their own populace, they will attempt to fire into the coalition base."

The three died when the airport's Contingency Operating Base came under fire on Thursday evening. Two of the victims came from 1 Squadron RAF Regiment while the third was a member of 504 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force.

It was unclear if the other injuries had been caused by shrapnel or whether a facility such as an ammunition depot had been hit in the assault.

The RAF Regiment is a field squadron which protects RAF bases from ground attack. It was deployed in Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991 and more recently in 2003.

The squadron has returned to Iraq three times in the past four years and has also carried out duties in Bosnia and Croatia.

Ministry of Defence sources confirmed that the victims' next of kin had been informed but were unable to give details of what had happened for "operational security reasons".

Major Shearer insisted that such attacks on British bases would only strengthen the resolve of service personnel in Iraq.

"We do not pretend for a second that when we lose any of our servicemen that it doesn't affect us, because it does. We are all human," he said.

"But we are determined to get on with the task that we have been charged to do.

"Our servicemen put their lives on the line to help the Iraqis build a stable and robust country.

"They go out on a daily basis in an attempt to make life just a little bit better for the Iraqis.

"When something like this happens it really makes us just more determined to get on with our task."

The 1 Squadron is based at RAF Honington near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, while 504 Squadron is based at RAF Cottesmore in the East Midlands.

The deaths bring the total number of British military casualties since hostilities began in Iraq to

162. Of those, 126 died in action.

The latest tragedy follows the deaths two weeks ago of Lance Corporal Ryan Francis, 23, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, and Corporal Christopher Read, 22, of 158 Provost Company, 3rd Regiment Royal Military Police.

Lance Corporal Francis, from Llanelli, South Wales was killed by an improvised explosive device in north Basra during a large-scale operation to arrest insurgency suspects.

Cpl Read, originally from Poole in Dorset, was killed by small arms fire on his way back from the same operation.