Dead soldiers flown home as British presence in Basra is questioned

Five military coffins, bearing the latest British dead from Iraq, arrived home yesterday. At the same time, 105 people died during two days of carnage in Afghanistan ­ the next battleground for British forces.

The bodies returning were of five personnel killed when their helicopter was shot down north of Basra. They included Flt-Lt Sarah Mulvihill, 32, the first British woman to be killed in the conflict.

Her husband, Lee, watched as the coffins, covered in Union flags, which had left Iraq after a ceremony at sunset in Basra in a C-17 Globemaster, were carried to waiting hearses at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, with the band of Britannia Royal Naval College playing laments.

He described her as a "best friend" and "beloved wife", whose loss "has greatly affected and impacted on more people than anyone can comprehend."

Group-Cpt Duncan Welham, station commander of RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, where Flt-Lt Mulvihill was based, added: "Sarah was one the RAF's finest: courageous, upbeat, unselfish."

The casualties had come in a particularly grim week for British troops in the country, amid sweeping violence which shows no signs of abating three years after the American and British "liberation". There were seven deaths and four injuries.

North-west of Baghdad yesterday, four American soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter died when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle, taking the death toll of US military to 2,455 since the beginning of the Iraq war.

In Basra, where most of Britain's 8,000 soldiers are based, General Hassan Swadi, chief of the police force, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb hit his convoy as he was going to work.

Despite assurances by the Defence minister Des Browne that the situation was under control while visiting the city, the Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, discussed the situation in Basra with his Shia and Sunni Vice-Presidents, Adil Abdul-Mahdi and Tariq al-Hashimi.

"We are following this issue closely, not because other parts of Iraq are violence-free, but because of the importance of the city with regard to the security of the south as a whole and the economy of Iraq," Mr Abdul-Mahdi said.

Hundreds of people have staged demonstrations in recent days and Basra's governor fired the provincial police chief last week amid charges that he was doing little to control the violence.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, experienced some of the fiercest fighting since the toppling of the Taliban and their al-Qa'ida allies four years ago. At least 100 people died when, in the course of 48 hours, a full-scale assault was made on a town by a resurgent Taliban; coalition forces were engaged in several firefights; and two suicide-bomb attacks were made as American forces carried out air strikes.

There was also political fallout from the Iraqi side of the "war on terror". In Rome, the new Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, pledged to bring all Italian troops home as soon as possible. "We consider the war in Iraq and the occupation of the country a great error" he said. " It has not resolved, but complicated, the situation of security. Terrorism has found a new base in Iraq and new excuses for attacks both inside and outside the country."

In London, officials have repeatedly stressed that British forces will " see it through to the end" in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military commanders, however, are deeply apprehensive about fighting a war on two fronts. They have warned that resources will be at their tightest stretch in maintaining such commitment in both countries.

The demands on British troops in both countries led to criticism from Sir Menzies Campbell, the leader of the Liberal Democrats. He said: "The competing demands of Afghanistan and Iraq have undoubtedly placed a great burden on our armed forces. Sooner or later something has got to give. Only professionalism and commitment have enabled us to meet our obligations."

Meanwhile, relatives of British troops killed in Iraq, who have been asking in vain to meet the Prime Minister, have been invited to attend a reception at the Gloucestershire home of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon died two years ago, and Reg Keys, whose son Thomas died in 2003, have received letters inviting them to Highgrove on 29 June. Mrs Gentle said: "It is a disgrace that Prince Charles will meet us, but the Prime Minister will not.We have been trying to meet Tony Blair for years."