Comrades, families and members of the public remembered five British soldiers killed in five bloody days of fighting in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of people turned out to pay their respects 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 incidents in southern Helmand Province over the weekend.

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, 39, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, and Trooper Joshua Hammond, 18, of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, died in a blast near Lashkar Gah in Helmand on Wednesday.

Their bodies were flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire before being driven through the nearby town of Wootton Bassett in what has become a grim tradition.

Under overcast skies and heavy showers, crowds of soldiers and civilians stood side by side with heads bowed as the cortege passed along the High Street. Among them was General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, who said he was "absolutely humbled" by the turnout.

He said: "Those five soldiers that we have lost have all been playing their part in a really significant operation. 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 an improvised explosive device. Pte Laws, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, was killed when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Another soldier, from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed by an explosion while on foot in Helmand.

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