Blair leads tributes to dead soldiers

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to the 12 soldiers killed when their helicopter crashed yesterday.

A debt of gratitude is owed to the eight Royal Marines killed and four US soldiers killed in the crash in the US-led assault on Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

The British troops from 3 Commando Brigade and US soldiers died when an American CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait several miles south of the Iraqi border.