Soldiers' bodies returned to UK

Cpls Dean John (L) and Graeme Stiff died when their patrol vehicle was hit

The bodies of three British soldiers killed last week on operations in Afghanistan have arrived in the UK.

Corporal Dean John, 25, from Port Talbot, south Wales, and Corporal Graeme Stiff, 24, from Grimsby, died in Helmand province on 15 March.

Lance Corporal Harkett, 22, from Pontardawe, near Swansea, died in an explosion near Musa Qaleh on 14 March.

Hundreds of people lined the streets of Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, as hearses carrying the bodies drove past.

The procession stopped briefly at the town's war memorial before continuing to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

L/Cpl Harkett was killed near Musa Qaleh

Wootton Bassett town council and Royal British Legion officials have observed the return of dead British soldiers since they started returning through RAF Lyneham in 2007.

Cpl John was a married father-of-three and Cpl Stiff was on his first tour. They were attached to the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.

The two men had been conducting a vehicle move to the west of Garmsir when it was struck by an explosive device.

L/Cpl Harkett, of the of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, was married and came from a military family.

Their deaths bring to 152 the number of British service personnel killed in Afghanistan since operations began.

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The soldiers were flown home to RAF Lyneham