Festival to focus on Afghanistan

The soldier saved by Able Seaman Kate Nesbitt will also attend the service

The annual Festival of Remembrance being held in Devon later is focussing on operations in Afghanistan.

Since 2001, 230 British troops have died there - five were killed on Tuesday when they were gunned down by an Afghan police officer.

The service is being held in the Great Hall at the University of Exeter.

It will be attended by Royal Navy medical assistant Kate Nesbitt from Derriford Hospital who was recently awarded the Military Cross.

The 21-year-old Able Seaman from Whitleigh, in Plymouth, braved Taliban fire to tend to a soldier shot in the neck during a gun battle in Afghanistan in March.

She is only the second woman in the Armed Forces to receive the medal.

The man she saved - L/Cpl John List, will also be at the service.

More than 1,000 people are expected at the festival which starts at 1930 GMT and will feature the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines from Lympstone and the traditional muster of standards.