Iraqi vow over soldiers' killers

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Iraqi interior minister Jawad Al Boulani has vowed to do his best to track down the killers after a letter from three of the families implored the Iraqi government to find the culprits.

In his letter, Mr Al Boulani said: "I promise you that I will do my best by exerting every means to reach the criminals and bring them to justice."

The letter says the soldiers made the "ultimate sacrifice" and continues: "Without the actions of honourable men, such as your sons, positive changes would not have taken place."

In February 2006, a court in Baghdad issued arrest warrants for eight suspects but nobody has been detained in spite of pressure from the British Government.

Mike Aston, whose 30-year-old son Russell was one of those who was killed, joined John Miller, who lost his 21-year-old son Simon, and Reg Keys, whose son Tom, 20, also died, to send a letter to the Iraqi government in March last year.

He said he wanted his son's killers to be made to answer for what they had done. "We've had four-and-a-half years of fighting, knowing the killers are still walking around and thinking it's OK to kill British soldiers and get away with it and that's not right," Mr Aston said.

Mr Aston, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, added that he was touched by the letter from the interior minister. "This to me is almost as good as giving a medal to the lads. At least the Iraqis have acknowledged their bravery."

A Ministry of Defence inquiry into the deaths found they could not have been prevented. In March 2006, a coroner recorded a narrative verdict of unlawful killing. The coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, said the six men should have been better equipped, but their deaths could not have been avoided.

The six Red Caps killed were Sgt Simon Hamilton-Jewell, 41, from Chessington, Surrey; Cpl Russell Aston, 30, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire; Cpl Paul Long, 24, of Tyne and Wear; L/Cpl Benjamin McGowan Hyde, 23, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire; L/Cpl Tom Keys, 20, from Bala, North Wales; and Cpl Simon Miller, 21, from Tyne and Wear.