AN SAS soldier has been killed in action just 10 days after attending the funeral of two colleagues at St Martins Church in Hereford.

Trooper Brad Tinnion, aged 28, suffered fatal wounds when he was hit by machine gun fire as he helped lift six Army hostages out of the jungle in Sierra Leone.

The young soldier was to become a father in a few weeks time. He lived with his partner in a small village just outside Hereford.

His death has been described as another sad blow for 22 SAS Regiment, based at Credenhill.

At the end of August the regiment lost two of its members, Corporal Martin Halls and Trooper Adrian Powell in a road crash while on exercises in Kenya.

Trooper Tinnion, a colleague of the two men, all in D Squadron, was in the same exercise and came home to attend the double military funeral at Hereford.

News of his death while in action on Sunday has shocked colleagues and many friends in Hereford.

l Report by LIZ WATKINS

The SAS had masterminded the daring, but dangerous mission to rescue six men of the Royal Irish Regiment who had been held hostage for more than a month by rebels known as the West Side Boys in Sierra Leone.

They were joined by members of the Parachute Regiment and had carried out considerable reconnaissance to pinpoint the hostages and their captors in dense jungle and mangrove swamps.

It is understood Trooper Tinnion was one of the men who went in by helicopter to rescue the hostages and capture some of the rebels.

As they were moving them out to a waiting Chinook helicopter, the men came under heavy machine gun fire.

Trooper Tinnion was hit, and taken by his colleagues to a Royal Navy support vessel Sir Percivale in Freetown Harbour, but sadly, had died from his injuries.

It is believed that several other soldiers were wounded but none of their injuries are life threatening.

Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Sir Charles Guthrie has described the military operation as one of the most complicated he had ever been involved in.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said he could not pay enough tribute to the skill, the professionalism and the courage of the armed forces involved.

Trooper Tinnion, who had been in the SAS for a couple of years was formerly in the Royal Artillery. His home is in Harrogate.

The facts of his death have been reported to the Herefordshire Coroner.

It is expected that a full military funeral will take place at St Martins Church.