Dying soldier still sent messages

North Staffordshire Coroner’s Court heard that Gunner Zak Cusack, who had no time to take cover, lost consciousness around a minute after being struck in the abdomen when his patrol came under attack in Helmand province.

But the 20-year-old, who later died of severe internal bleeding, managed to relay the incident back up the chain of command in the seconds after he was hit in a field near the village of Enezai.

Comrades of Gunner Cusack, a member of 4th Regiment Royal Artillery from Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent, told his inquest how he was wounded by one of around a dozen shots fired from an irrigation ditch on May 26 last year.

Gunner Cusack was a member of a five-man fire support team tasked with co-ordinating assistance from mortar crews or other larger weaponry.

Coroner Ian Smith recorded a verdict that Gunner Cusack was unlawfully killed while on military service.