Sister of bomb victim Joanna heading back to Iraq

But as Neil and Annie Dyer grieve for their girl Joanna, killed while serving in Iraq, they must endure the extra agony of having another daughter in a warzone.

Holly Dyer, who is also an Army officer, was home on leave when her 24-year-old sister - a friend of Prince William - was killed by a roadside bomb in Basra last Thursday.

After attending the funeral, she is due to return to Iraq to complete her tour of duty.

The Armed Forces have no policy of keeping personnel out of combat zones if their close relatives are killed in action.

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It will be a harrowing time for the Dyers, who were too distraught to talk to the media yesterday at their home in the Somerset village of Hardington Mandeville, near Yeovil.

But the girls' father, a Lieutenant Colonel who served with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and mother, a captain in Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, are said to be proud that their daughters chose military careers.

Joanna, a Second Lieutenant attached to 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, trained alongside Prince William at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

She died when an Iranian-made bomb blasted through the armoured vehicle she was patrolling in. Others killed in the attack were 19-year-old medic Eleanor Dlugosz, Corporal Kris O'Neill, 27, and Kingsman Adam Smith, 19.

Their Kuwaiti translator also died and a fifth British serviceman was seriously wounded.

Yesterday Major Hume Jones, who trained Lieutenant Dyer, said he had watched her blossom into a "remarkable young officer".

"Jo is the first cadet I've lost and it's a horrible feeling," he said. "She had it all, including charisma to complement her intelligence. It is a very sad loss for us all to bear."

He added: "She knew the dangers she faced and was prepared to meet them."

Private Dlugosz's mother Sally Veck, a 41-year-old hotel manager from Southampton, said: "Eleanor was an extremely independent and determined young lady who excelled at everything she put her mind to. She was my action girl. Nothing would stop her from serving her country."

Private Dlugosz first applied to join the Army when she was 17 but failed the fitness course. She was not to be deterred, however, and told her parents she would "run faster next time".

She eventually joined the Army Medical Corps, but was planning to leave in a few years to become a police officer.

Neighbour Sue Osborne said: "Sally told me last weekend that her daughter was in Iraq and loving it. I suggested it must be a worry having her in Iraq, but Sally said, 'It's just one of those things.'"

Corporal O'Neill's mother Valerie, of Halifax, West Yorkshire, said her "whole world collapsed" when she was told the news. Her son had a wife, Tina, and three-year-old twins Adam and Connor. Kingsman Smith, who was brought up in Liverpool, was described as "thoroughly popular."

His family said no words could describe the pain they were feeling.

• Ten U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq over the weekend.

On Sunday died in a roadside bombing during a patrol south of Baghdad, and another in a mortar or rocket attack in a separate incident south of the capital. Two more died from wounds sustained in combat, the military said.

On Saturday, four U.S. soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala, north of Baghdad.