Soldier's death investigated

Military and civil police were yesterday co-operating in an investigation into the death of a soldier killed while taking part in an exercise in the mountains of mid-Wales near the Army's Sennybridge Base.

Guardsman Richard King, 22, whose parents live at Sheerness in Kent, died when he was hit by a single round from a standard service rifle during night-time manoeuvres in the early hours of Thursday. More than 50 soldiers will be interviewed to seek an explanation to what an army spokesman described as "a tragic accident".

The area is one of the Army's main infantry training grounds where Nato troops, members of the Special Air Service and the Parachute Regiment exercise along with other army units.