Son of SAS hero among latest troops killed in Afghanistan

As the bodies of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan were flown home to Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, yesterday, two of their comrades who died in an explosion on the country's election day were named by the Ministry of Defence.

Sergeant Paul McAleese, 29, of 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed by a second blast as he went to help Pte Young. Sgt McAleese, from Hereford, was the son of a John McAleese, a member of the SAS squad which ended the 1980 Iranian embassy siege by storming the building. He was married with a son who was born a week before his deployment to Afghanistan.

Private Jonathan Young, 18, of 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, had arrived in the war zone on 2 August as part of a team of reinforcements following heavy casualties in July. Pte Young, from Hull, was killed in an explosion while on a routine patrol in Helmand province on Thursday. He was described as a "robust and determined" soldier who had volunteered for duty in Afghanistan.