Bodies of 6 UK war dead return from Afghanistan

WOOTTON BASSETT, England – Hundreds of grieving Britons were expected to line the streets of this small English town on Tuesday to watch the repatriation of the bodies of six soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Five of the soldiers — three members of the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police — were killed in one incident on Nov. 3, when an Afghan police officer turned on them. The sixth died in an explosion the following day.

Though British troops have been in Afghanistan since late 2001, the sacrifices made by the country's military have been coming into sharper focus over recent weeks.

More than 200 British servicemen have died in combat in Afghanistan — the majority in the restive Helmand Province in the country's south — and recently more Britons have been asking why so many young people are dying in a place so far away.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's answer — that securing Afghanistan is vital for Britain's security — doesn't satisfy everyone.

"I don't support the war anymore," said Anne Saville, a 54-year-old surveyor from Bolton, in northern England. "There seems to be no end in sight and no justification for the troops to be out there."

A poll published over the weekend showed that 64 percent of Britons — up from 58 percent in a similar poll over the summer — think the war is unwinnable. And 63 percent of the 1,009 people across Britain who were questioned wanted the troops withdrawn from Afghanistan. A poll that size has an error margin of three percentage points.

In addition to the sliding support for the war, if not the troops, Brown faced criticism for faults ranging from inadequate equipment for the troops to sloppy handwriting and spelling in letters to the families of soldiers killed in combat.

He most recently came under fire for misspelling the names of Jacqui Janes and her son, Jamie Janes, who was killed in combat. Brown had to call her to apologize.

"I understand very well the sadness that she feels, and the way that she has expressed her grief is something that I can also clearly understand," Brown said at his monthly news conference Tuesday morning.

"I wanted to say during that conversation with her, but thought I could not really do so because I do not know her, that when there is a personal loss as deep and immediate as she has experienced it takes time to recover. That loss can never be replaced."

Brown told reporters that the fight in Afghanistan is crucial for preventing al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the streets of Britain.