PARATROOPERS BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN

Major Russell Lewis, Commander of B Company in the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, said Taliban forces were able to regenerate and British troops could not "just keep having slugging matches with them".

He was speaking as members of 2 Para returned to their base in Colchester having seen some of the fiercest fighting since the war in Afghanistan began following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Thirteen soldiers, who were either members of 2 Para or were attached to the unit, have been killed since the battalion left for a six-month tour of duty in Helmand Province.

Major Lewis said the soldiers under his command were the finest generation of paratroops in the history of the Parachute Regiment.

He said they had risen to every challenge and had seen "the best and worst" of soldiering.