A SERVICEMAN from Suffolk's RAF Regiment has been killed in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today.The British serviceman was from 1 Squadron, RAF Regiment, based in Honington.

A SERVICEMAN from Suffolk's RAF Regiment has been killed in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today.

The British serviceman was from 1 Squadron, RAF Regiment, based in Honington.

The soldier was killed last night in Basra City, in southern Iraq, as a result of a small arms fire attack, which happened at around 8.30pm local time, the MoD said.

The serviceman was on an operation in the Karmat Ali district of Basra City.

The MoD said: “The serviceman's next of kin have been informed and have requested a period of 24 hours before further details are released.”

The latest incident comes just three weeks after the deaths of two other soldiers in the same regiment following a mortar attack at the regiment's base in Iraq.

The men, 24-year-old Peter McFerran of Flintshire, Wales, and 22-year-old Matthew Caulwell, of Birmingham, were on a break from duties with two other personnel at the base in Basra when it was hit.

The announcement of another serviceman's death from the Suffolk base came on the same day as the MoD named another soldier killed in the country.

Private Craig Barber, 20, from Ogmore Vale in Wales, was killed by small arms fire overnight on Monday during an operation in Basra City.

The married father-of-one, joined 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh in 2004 and was on his second tour in Iraq when he was killed.

Fellow soldiers revealed he had been due to return home on leave this month to celebrate his first wedding anniversary with wife Donna and three-year-old son Bradley.

The latest death brings the total number of British service personnel who have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to 166, of whom 130 have died in action.