News Search Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind Site search Web search Story archive		3-05-2005 The Scotsman UK soldier killed as casualties in Gulf rise Guardsman becomes 87th British soldier to die as MoD reports number of injured evacuated exceeds 3,000 By Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Correspondent A BRITISH soldier was killed in a bomb attack in southern Iraq yesterday as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed that the number of casualties medically evacuated from the Gulf since the start of the war has risen above 3,000. Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield died when a bomb exploded next to his armoured Land Rover patrol in the flashpoint town of Al Amarah, the scene of much of the heaviest post-war fighting involving British troops. The 24-year-old, who served with the Coldstream Guards, was married with three children. In 2002 he was praised for risking his own life to go to the aid of a friend who had fallen into an icy river. He is the 87th British soldier to lose his life in Operation Telic since the start of the conflict in 2003. He was standing up in the back of the vehicle with his head and upper body poking through a hatch in the roof when the bomb went off. A second soldier was also injured in the attack. The attack came amid an upsurge in violence that has left at least 130 people dead since a new government was formed last week. In Baghdad yesterday two car bombs killed at least nine more Iraqis and a US military patrol and a top Iraqi security official narrowly escaped two other bombings. On Sunday insurgents killed at least 36 Iraqis in a series of attacks, including 25 who died when a car bomb ripped through a tent packed with mourners at the funeral of a Kurdish official in the northern city of Tal Afar. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, sent his condolences to the family of Guardsman Wakefield, who came from Newcastle upon Tyne and who was the 50th serviceman to die as a result of confirmed hostile action since the start of the conflict. "It underlines once again the extraordinary work and sacrifice that British armed forces are making in Iraq, to help Iraq become a stable and democratic country that's no longer a threat to its region and the world," he said. But the soldier's wife, Ann, last night said her husband would not have died if Mr Blair had not sent troops into war. Mrs Wakefield, speaking on the ITV News Channel, said Mr Blair had deprived her three children of their father. "He sent the troops over and he should not have done it. If it was not for that, their dad would have been here today," she said. Guardsman Wakefield, who was attached to 12 Mechanised Brigade, is the first British soldier to die in action in Iraq since an RAF Hercules aircraft crashed north of Baghdad in January, killing ten. But the MoD yesterday confirmed that British casualties in Iraq have continued to rise inexorably. A spokesman said that the number of soldiers flown out of the region for medical treatment since the start of the war now exceeded 3,000. An average of two soldiers have been evacuated every day since the same time last year. Casualty figures for British forces in Iraq have been hard to establish, with no figures available for injuries sustained and treated in the country. The MoD says only about a third of those evacuated sustained their injuries in combat. The 1st Battalion The Coldstream Guards is currently serving alongside the Staffordshire Regiment in the Maysan province of Iraq adjoining the border with Iran. British troops have fought intense engagements with insurgents in the area over the last two years. Yesterday the Commanding Officer of the Staffordshire Regiment, Lt Col Andrew Williams, said Guardsman Wakefield, who had been earmarked for promotion, had been on a routine patrol when the bomb went off. "He was acting as the top cover sentry in the second of a two-vehicle patrol when what appears to have been an improvised explosive device detonated - disabling the vehicle and injuring another soldier," he said. The attack comes less than two weeks after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted terrorist, ordered his followers to target British soldiers in the south of the country with the warning that Britain "will not escape Iraq without punishment".
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