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The bodies of five British soldiers killed by a rogue Afghan policeman last week will return to Britain tomorrow.
They will be flown back to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, where a private ceremony at lunchtime will precede a procession through Wootton Bassett where family, friends, veterans and local people are due to gather to pay their respects.
The five soldiers who died in the attack in a police compound in the Nad e-Ali district of the southern Helmand province were Regimental Sergeant Major Darren Chant, Sergeant Matthew Telford and Guardsman James Major, all from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, and Corporal Steven Boote and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith, both from the Royal Military Police.
The body of a sixth British soldier, Sergeant Phillip Scott, 3rd Battalion The Rifles, who was killed in northern Helmand last Thursday, will also be repatriated.
The rising death toll has sent public support for the Afghan conflict plummeting. But General Sir Mike Jackson, former head of the British Army, warned against pulling out Allied troops from Afghanistan which he believes would put Britain at greater risk, embolden extremists and harm the Nato alliance.
"I would emphasise that now is not the time for the faint-hearted," he said.
Two more British soldiers were killed in separate blasts in Afghanistan at the weekend. A soldier from the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, became the 200th member of the armed forces to be killed in action since the conflict started in 2001 after an explosion in southern Helmand province on Saturday. A serviceman from 4th Battalion, The Rifles, died in a blast in the same area yesterday, bringing the total British military death toll to 232.
British military chiefs today called for a swift troop surge in Afghanistan. US President Barack Obama is said to favour sending a further 34,000 troops to the country, but reports claim they may not arrive until March.
A Ministry of Defence source said it was hoped that the reinforcements could be sent more quickly. "There is a sense of frustration," he said. "Why the delay?"
