A FORMER British soldier protecting contractors in Iraq was shot dead less than 24 hours after e-mailing friends that he was in serious trouble and expected to be attacked.

Michael Bloss, 38, a former special forces officer with the Parachute Regiment, was killed while working as a security guard at the town of Hit, near Fallujah.

He sent a message to friends the day before, saying: “I’m in serious shit here. We are expecting to be overrun tonight and we may have to fight our way to a safe haven.

“Unfortunately all the safe havens are already under attack. I don’t wish to alarm you. We’ll probably be OK. I’ll e-mail when I’m safe.”

Mr Bloss, from Bridgend, South Wales, lived in America where he worked as a ski instructor for the disabled.

His father, Peter, 72, said his son had succeeded in getting the hydro-electric engineers he was protecting to safety, but was then shot.

“At the end of the season he was taken on by this company as a security guard,” he said. “They obviously had a contract of sorts working in Iraq and he finished up there.

“I have spoken to the managing director of his firm and he was terribly sorry.

“I asked him how many people his firm have in Iraq and he said 1,200. I asked him how many had been killed and he said: ‘Just one, your son’.”

Mr Bloss’s brother, Phil, 41, said: “He was a very adventurous person and he died a hero.

“He was a very fit man and had spent three years in the Parachute Regiment including two tours of Northern Ireland. He was active and loved the outdoors, mountain biking and skiing.

“He probably went to Iraq looking for adventure and there was good money to be earned. “We don’t know how many Iraqis attacked him but he saved the lives of the three people he was protecting. We are very proud that that’s the kind of thing he would do.”

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