Soldier died ‘trying to make world better place’

Lance Corporal Jonathan McKinlay, of B Company, 1st Battalion The Rifles, was killed on September 14 by a burst of small-arms fire while on patrol.

Some 200 mourners gathered for the service at St George Church, Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, which came on the 10th anniversary of the conflict in Afghanistan.

The union flag-draped coffin adorned with flowers was taken into the church where Padre Grant Ashton said L/Cpl McKinlay had “died trying to make the world a better place”.

In an interview on the anniversary of the conflict, Afghan President Hamid Karzai claimed the Taliban was being propped up by neighbouring Pakistan, warning the war would only end when something was done to defeat insurgents in their sanctuaries there.

The invasion by the US and its allies was aimed at toppling the hard-line Taliban regime and punishing it for giving safe harbour to terrorists from al-Qaida, which orchestrated the September 11 attacks.