Co Down Soldier's Body Returned

There have been heart-rending scenes of grief as the bodies of three soldiers killed in Afghanistan came home.

Captain Mark Hale's widow Brenda and two young daughters travelled from their home in Co Down to attend a private repatriation ceremony at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

The grief-stricken family made the emotional journey from Northern Ireland to receive his body on Tuesday.

Captain Hale, 42, had been serving in Helmand Province with the second battalion The Rifles (regimental badge, pictured) when he was caught up in a double bomb attack last Thursday.

Cpt Hale and another Ballykinler-based soldier, Rifleman Daniel Wild ,19, had been helping to carry a wounded comrade to safety when they were hit by a secondary device.

Lance Bombardier Matthew Hatton, 23, of 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, from Haxby, North Yorkshire, was initially hit by a makeshift explosive.

All three died in the brutal double attack.

Yesterday, the officer's daughters Tori and Alex were inconsolable as they watched a hearse carry their heroic father through the town of Wootton Bassett.

The girls were comforted by friends as they joined the hundreds of mourners lining the streets in respect for the three dead soldiers.

Originally from Bournemouth, Cpt Hale had settled with his Bangor-born wife Brenda in the village of Dromara.

Cpt Hale was also a devout Christian and had a keen interest in cycling, rugby and rowing, and along with his two daughters was a member of the Belfast Boat Club.

It is understood a private funeral service will be held at Ballykinler Army base before he is laid to rest.

However, a post mortem will have to be carried out by a coroner in Oxford before his body is returned to Northern Ireland.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said that it would depend on when the coroner released the body from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, where the bodies of dead servicemen are taken after returning to RAF Lyneham.

The deaths came shortly before the total number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan reached 200, a figure which then moved rapidly to 204.

The three soldiers died while providing security for a meeting ahead of Afghanistan's key presidential elections tomorrow.

The blast attack came as the family of a former soldier from Co Londonderry were still waiting to hear when they will receive his remains.

Stuart Murray, who was 40, and a former Royal Irish Regiment Colour Sergeant, died in an explosion in the western province of Herat on Saturday while working as a private security guard.

See: NI Security Officer Dies In Afghanistan

(BMcC/KMcA)