Veterans query rescue of Irish reporter

VETERANS honouring the return of a British soldier killed in Afghanistan during the rescue of a kidnapped Irish journalist questioned the mission yesterday, as crowds lined the streets in tribute.

Corporal John Harrison, 29, of the Parachute Regiment, was killed in a daring pre-dawn operation on September 9 to rescue Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter.

His body was flown to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire in the south-west of England yesterday morning, alongside that of Jason Dunn-Bridgeman, 20, who died in a firefight in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.