Picture of the Day: Prayers for the fallen

(JOHN GILES/REUTERS)

The army's 4th Mechanized Brigade pay their respects to fallen comrades at a memorial service in York Minster yesterday, a day after the death of a British soldier who may have been killed by friendly fire from a US aircraft in Afghanistan. The troops in York completed their own six-month deployment alongside US troops in Helmand province in October.

The Ministry of Defence said the soldier's death on Sunday was still under investigation. However, a spokesman for the ministry said that "first reports indicate that an attack on an insurgent position by a US aircraft, requested by and agreed with British forces on the ground, may have been the cause".

The dead serviceman, who is yet to be named, had been serving with the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment. He was killed during an operation in the Nad-e Ali District of Helmand, becoming the 346th death among British forces.