Soldier who died in blast on dam patrol is named
A British soldier killed on Saturday in an explosion in southern Afghanistan was named yesterday as Lance Corporal Nicky Mason, 26, of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment. Mason, from Aveley in Essex, who died while on a patrol near the Kajaki dam in Helmand province, was the second member of the regiment killed in Afghanistan in 48 hours and the third British soldier to have been killed there within four days. Lt Col Joe O'Sullivan said: "The hidden story of the Kajaki dam is the company that patrols it daily ... so that the power station can continue to function."
Richard Norton-Taylor