Three RAF servicemen were killed on Thursday in one of the daily mortar attacks on their base in Basra, southern Iraq, spokesman Major Matthew Bird said yesterday.
He added that the incident occurred when the Airport Camp came under several ‘indirect fire’ attacks on Thursday.
The UK Ministry of Defence yesterday confirmed ‘the deaths of one serviceman from 504 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force and two servicemen from 1 Squadron RAF Regiment on Thursday 19th July 2007’.
It added in its statement: ‘They were killed in an indirect fire attack on the Contingency Operating Base in Basra, Iraq.
‘For operational security reasons MoD is not able to give any further details.’
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 162 British soldiers have been killed.
Six British troops have been killed in this month.
Britain has about 5,500 troops in Iraq, most of whom are in and around Basra, though that number will be reduced by 500 before the end of the year, the defence ministry has said.
In Baghdad, the US military said yesterday that two US soldiers died of wounds sustained in separate roadside bomb blasts.
A military statement said that one soldier died from wounds when a bomb detonated next to his vehicle on Thursday in east Baghdad. Another soldier died in a similar bomb attack the same day in Baghdad province.
