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Written question asked by Natascha Engel (Labour) on Friday, 7 October 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 11 October 2011. It was answered by Lord Hammond of Runnymede (Conservative) on Wednesday, 19 October 2011 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Territorial Army

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what proportion of (a) full-time and (b) regular army reserve officers in each category died in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Iraq in each of the last five years.
Answer

Since 1 April 2007, 26 UK full-time Army officers, which covers regular officers, Gurkha officers, and full-time reserve service officers, have died as a result of operations in Afghanistan or Iraq. Of these, 23 were as a result of operations in Afghanistan and three were as a result of operations in Iraq.There have been no deaths of either regular army reserve officers or Territorial Army officers deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq during the same period.The following tables provide a breakdown of the number of full-time regular Army officer deaths by operation and financial year, and shows this as the proportion of those deployed and as a proportion of those on strength.

Table 1: Full-time regular Army officer deaths as a result of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, 1 April 2007 to 9 October 2011 by financial year, numbers, and percentage
All 2007-08 2008-09
Category Number Number Deployed (%) Strength (%) Number Deployed (%) Strength (%)
Afghanistan² 23 4 0.15 0.03 2 0.07 0.01
Iraq² 3 3 0.14 0.02 0 — —
2009-10 2010-11 2011-12¹
Category Number Deployed (%) Strength (%) Number Deployed (%) Strength (%) Number
Afghanistan² 10 0.28 0.07 5 0.12 0.03 2
Iraq² 0 — — 0 — — 0
¹ 201-12 Deployment data and strength data is not yet available.
² Includes those who were killed in action or died of wounds as well as deaths due to accidents, natural causes, assaults, and coroner confirmed suicide or open verdicts.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
73141; 533 c994W
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Iraq Peacekeeping operations Reserve forces Afghanistan Territorial Army Iraq conflict
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk