Soldier's funeral to take place

Representatives from Pte Laws' regiment will attend his funeral

The funeral of an 18-year-old soldier killed in Afghanistan is set to take place in Worcestershire.

Pte Robert Laws, from 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was killed while taking part in a major offensive in Helmand province on 4 July.

The funeral with full military honours will be held at St Johns Church in his home town of Bromsgrove on Wednesday.

It will be attended by representatives from Pte Laws' regiment who will carry the coffin.

Retired Col Stephen Ashworth, the Regimental Secretary of the Mercian Regiment, and members of the Royal British Legion will also be there and a firing party will perform a gun salute outside the church.

The service will be conducted by the Padre of 143 (West Midlands) Brigade, the Reverend Colin Butler.

Pte Laws was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

He was taking part in an operation involving about 3,000 soldiers to improve security in the area north of Lashkar Gah, the Ministry of Defence said.

It said Pte Laws was on the front line in Afghanistan within a year of finishing basic training, which was a "tremendous undertaking".

Since 2001, 175 UK service personnel have died in Afghanistan.