Afghan death soldiers flown home

Three soldiers shot dead in Afghanistan by a man wearing Afghan Army uniform have been repatriated.

The trio, members of an Afghan Police advisory team, were killed on July 1 after helping organise a meeting of elders at Checkpoint Kamparack Pul in Nahr-e-Saraj, Helmand Province.

They received first aid at the scene but died of their injuries. A man believed to be responsible for the shooting is in custody, said the MoD.

Guardsmen Craig Roderick and Apete Saunikalou Ratumaiyale Tuisovurua, of the 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards, and Warrant Officer Leonard Thomas, of the Royal Corps of Signals, were flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Thursday.

After a private ceremony their cortege passed the memorial garden before heading to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

WO2 Thomas, 44, was on his final tour in Afghanistan, having served since 1990 in units including the Coldstream and Welsh Guards before joining the RCS.

Cardiff-born Guardsman Roderick, 22, was a trainee bricklayer before joining the Welsh Guards in September 2009, based in Aldershot.

Fijian Guardsman Tuisovurua, 28, had been a soldier for little more than a year, having finished his training and joined the regiment in June 2011, based in Hounslow, west London.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond described the attack on the soldiers as "cowardly".

Four other British soldiers have died in similar circumstances so far this year. The Ministry of Defence said there had been 16 "green on blue" UK fatalities since 2008, including the seven killed this year. In 2011, there was only one such death.