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Inquest opens into soldier deaths Better UK troop protection urged
(about 1 hour later)
The inquest has begun into the death of four British soldiers - including a close friend of Prince William - in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq. The coroner investigating the deaths of four British soldiers in an Iraq bomb blast has called for better protection for troops.
2nd Lt Joanna Dyer, 24, who was at Sandhurst military academy with William, died in the blast on 5 April last year. The soldiers died when their Warrior vehicle drove over a device near Basra on 5 April last year.
Also killed were Cpl Kris O'Neill, 27, Pte Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, and Kingsman Adam James Smith, 19. Killed were 2nd Lt Joanna Yorke Dyer, 24, a friend of Prince William, Cpl Kris O'Neill, 27, Pte Eleanor Dlugosz, 19, and Kingsman Adam James Smith, 19.
Their Warrior armoured vehicle was attacked after a patrol near Basra. Coroner David Masters will meet the Armed Forces minister over the matter.
'Deeply saddened' The Warrior vehicle in which the soldiers were travelling was armour-protected on the top and the sides, but not on the bottom.
A civilian Kuwaiti interpreter was also killed, and another soldier seriously injured. The device was buried in a road and was detonated as the Warrior passed over it, leaving a 3ft deep crater in the ground.
The vehicle was hit by a massive bomb explosion which left a 3ft deep crater in the ground. Mr Masters, coroner for Wiltshire, recorded verdicts of unlawful killing.
2nd Lt Dyer, an Oxford graduate from Yeovil in Somerset, was commissioned as an officer on the same day as William in December 2006, during a parade at Sandhurst attended by the Queen. He told the inquest in Trowbridge that he would meet Armed Forces Minster Bob Ainsworth later this week to recommend the armour issue was dealt with speedily.
William was said to be "deeply saddened" by her death.
A Clarence House spokesman said at the time: "Jo was a close friend of his at Sandhurst and he is very much thinking of her family and friends right now and they will remain in his thoughts and prayers."