Briton killed in Iraq had told father he worked in Kuwait

A former British soldier killed after he went to work as a security guard in Iraq had told his father he would be working in Kuwait so as not to worry him.

Andrew Harries, 34, was killed on Tuesday when a gunman opened fire on a convoy of cars he was travelling in close to the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. His father Geoff, of Llwydcoed, Aberdare, South Wales, said yesterday his son's death had come as a complete shock. "I found out yesterday...I had no idea he was there," Mr Harries said. "It was apparently kept from me by Andrew and his brother David so that I would not worry. I am devastated. I had no idea he was out in Iraq. They both kept it from me."

Mr Harries's death followed the killing of former Royal Marine Brian Tilley, 47, last Friday. He was in Baghdad working as a security guard on behalf of an Egyptian communications company and was shot after he missed a flight home two days earlier.

Like Mr Tilley, Mr Harries had served during the first Gulf War. Mr Harries also served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland. Mr Harries, who was born in Cardiff but lived in Aberdare, was working in Iraq for Armor Group, a company which has been hired to protect Foreign Office staff there. In a statement the company said Mr Harries was providing security support for an Iraqi infrastructure reconstruction project when he was shot on the main Mosul to Irbil highway.

Christopher Beese, a director of Armor Group, said: "This is a very unfortunate and random loss of life from someone who was protecting civilians and helping put the country back together."

Mr Beese said all his employees working in Iraq were aware of the risks. Mr Harries had a daughter, aged three, who lives with his former partner in Runcorn, Cheshire.

He had been working as a security guard in Iraq for about eight weeks and was due to return home in two weeks' time. Mr Harries' mother, Veronica, had also died in the past year.

Last month, another British security guard Michael Bloss, 38, from Bridgend, South Wales, was killed while protecting American contractors.