Inquests start on UK war dead

Inquests start on UK war dead

The servicemen were repatriated in a ceremony

The bodies of the first UK servicemen to die in the Iraq conflict are lying in a makeshift mortuary at an airbase after arriving back in Britain.

The families of the 10 servicemen gathered with senior military officials for a sombre repatriation ceremony at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Saturday.

Post-mortem examinations have begun on the bodies.

Opening inquests into the deaths, Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner said he hoped all the bodies would be released within a fortnight.

British casualties returned

Captain Philip Guy

Warrant Officer Mark Stratford

Major Jason Ward

Marine Sholto Hedenskog

Sergeant John Cecil

Lance Bombardier Llywelyn Evans

Sergeant Les Hehir

Operator Mechanic Ian Seymour

Flight Lt Kevin Main

Flight Lt Dave Williams

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, attended the ceremony which saw each coffin arrive draped with either the Union flag or one chosen by the families and be carried off an aircraft by six pall-bearers.

This weekend has also seen anti-war protesters across the UK as the first march in support of troops was staged by armed forces families.

Eight of the dead were killed when the US Sea Knight helicopter they were aboard crashed south of the Kuwait border.

The other two were crew of the RAF GR4 Tornado aircraft from RAF Marham, Norfolk, shot down near the Kuwaiti border by a Patriot missile battery.

Full military honours

The ceremony was deliberately low key to reflect the fact that the war continues.

One inquest is expected to consider the Tornado crew's deaths, while a second will concern the servicemen killed in the helicopter crash.

Sombre service to receive the dead

Relatives are being offered a burial with full military honours, which the MoD says is a break with the past when British troops killed abroad were usually buried where they fell.

Mr Gardiner added that none of the families had yet indicated whether they wanted a private funeral or a full military ceremony.

It is expected that the bodies of all the British servicemen killed in the war on Iraq will be brought back to RAF Brize Norton.

Elsewhere in the UK, armed forces families held a march on Saturday in support of their relatives' role in Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Stop The War Coalition is holding marches and rallies around the country.

Protests would target several Labour MPs who supported military action after earlier arguing for a second United Nations resolution, the coalition said.