Two British soldiers die during UK training ‘incident’

London, Jun 16 (AFP) Two British soldiers have been killed and three other servicemen injured in an incident at a UK training ground, the defence ministry has said. “It is with deep sadness that I can confirm the death of a soldier from the Royal Tank Regiment who died as a result of injuries sustained in an incident at Castlemartin Ranges,” veterans minister Tobias Ellwood said in a statement released by the defence ministry yesterday. The minister later confirmed the death of a second soldier at 9:30 pm (local time) on Thursday. “Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time,” he said in a statement. Three other soldiers were injured in the incident in southwest Wales on Wednesday afternoon, Ellwood said, without giving further details. “The safety of our personnel is our absolute priority and a full investigation is underway to understand the details of this tragic incident,” he said. The death comes five years after 21-year-old soldier Michael Maguire was killed at Castlemartin when he was shot in the head after live machine gun fire was wrongly directed towards the safe haven he was in. A 2013 inquest into Maguire’s death found that he had been unlawfully killed. (AFP)