Eight Afghan victims flown home

LONDON (Reuters) - The bodies of eight soldiers killed during the bloodiest 24-hours for British forces since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 were flown back home on Tuesday.

The men, three of whom were 18, were killed in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan where British and U.S. forces are involved in a major operation to try to recapture territory from Taliban militants.

Britain has now lost 184 soldiers in Afghanistan, five more than during the campaign in Iraq. Of those 15 were killed in the last two weeks.

The bodies of the soldiers -- Private John Brackpool, Corporal Lee Scott, Rifleman Daniel Hume, Rifleman James Backhouse, Rifleman Joseph Murphy, Corporal Jonathan Horne, Rifleman Daniel Simpson, and Rifleman William Aldridge, returned to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire at around midday.

After a flypast, there will be a private ceremony for families before a procession through the town of Wootton Bassett.

Before their bodies were flown back, soldiers in Afghanistan staged a memorial service to the men.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, said it had been important for him to attend the service because of the high number of recent casualties.

"A high number of deaths inevitably makes you question what we're doing, how we're doing it," he told BBC radio.

"This mission is really important. If you ... ask yourself the question what if we were to ... come out of this mission, Quite frankly the consequences of that are appalling. We will succeed, we must succeed."