14.1 |
Military equipment (post-conflict)
705.
On 19 April,
Corporal Ben Leaning and Trooper Kristen Turton were killed
when
their
Scimitar vehicle was struck and badly damaged by an IED attack in
Maysan
province.378
Three other
soldiers were injured in the attack. The vehicle had
been
providing
protection for a convoy.
706.
On 6 May,
Private Kevin Thompson died as a result of injuries sustained when
the
vehicle in
which he was travelling hit an IED in the early hours of 3
May.379
He had
been
taking part
in a routine convoy to re‑supply the Contingency Operating Base at
Basra
Air Station.
707.
Maj Gen Shaw
sent an update to CJO on 7 June, stating:
“Our
vehicles are protecting us but at an unsustainable rate. On average
we are
losing an
armoured vehicle due to damage beyond local repair at a rate of a
vehicle
every nine
days; faster than the UK can resupply them.”380
708.
Maj Gen Shaw
told the Inquiry that the vehicle he was referring to in his
update
of 7 June
was Warrior.381
When asked
what he had in mind in making that statement,
Major Gen Shaw
said:
“It was the
unsustainability of what we were doing … alerting people that what
we
were doing
was unsustainable.”
709.
When asked by
the Inquiry what was being done to deal with that
problem,
Maj Gen Shaw
said: “I can’t recall.”
710.
On 22 June,
Corporal John Rigby died from injuries sustained by a roadside
bomb
711.
On 28 June,
Corporal Paul Joszko, Private Scott Kennedy and Private
James
Kerr were
killed by a roadside IED in Basra.383
The
soldiers had dismounted the Warrior
vehicle in
which they had been patrolling when the device
detonated.
712.
On 7 July,
Lance Corporal Ryan Francis was killed when an IED hit the
Warrior
vehicle in
which he was travelling north of Basra.384
LCpl
Francis was taking part in a
large scale
operation to detain insurgents in Basra City. Corporal Christopher
Read was
378
GOV.UK,
20 April
2007, Corporal
Ben Leaning and Trooper Kristen Turton killed in Iraq.
379
GOV.UK,
7 May
2007, Private
Kevin Thompson dies in UK from injuries sustained in
Iraq.
380
Private
hearing, 21 June 2010 pages 40‑42. This evidence was quoted to
Maj Gen Shaw during his
hearing.
381
Private
hearing, 21 June 2010 pages 40‑42.
382
GOV.UK,
24 June
2007, Corporal
John Rigby killed in Iraq on Friday 22 June 2007.
383
GOV.UK,
29 June
2007, Corporal
Paul Joszko and Privates Scott Kennedy and James Kerr
killed
in Basra
roadside bomb attack on 28 June 2007.
384
GOV.UK,
7 July
2007, Lance
Corporal Ryan Francis 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh killed in
Iraq
7 July
2007.
123