Five close friends and comrades-in-arms from the same platoon died in the huge explosion that hit a foot patrol from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles in Afghanistan on Friday.

With five others suffering critical injuries, 9 Platoon, C Company 2 Rifles, which consisted of 30 men before it set off before dawn for a patrol near Sangin in northern Helmand, has been in effect wiped out.

One of the platoon’s leaders, an experienced non-commissioned officer who would have held the unit together, was among the five who died. The four others were riflemen, mostly teenagers who were only just old enough to be sent to Afghanistan — they have to be 18 to fight.

The roll-call of fatalities from the worst 24 hours suffered by the Army since the operation in Afghanistan began — eight killed between July 9 and 10 — underlined the loss felt by the whole British Task Force in Helmand: Corporal Jonathan Horne, 28, Rifleman William Aldridge, 18, Rifleman James Backhouse, 18, Rifleman Joseph Murphy, 18, and Rifleman Daniel Simpson, 20.

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The three others who died in separate incidents in the same 24-hour period were Corporal Lee Scot, 26, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment; Private John Brackpool, 27, of the Prince of Wales’s Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, and Rifleman Daniel Hume, 22, of the 4th Battalion The Rifles.

“The deaths and injuries of so many soldiers from the same platoon will be devastating,” said Patrick Mercer, Conservative MP for Newark and a former infantry battalion commanding officer. “There is no battle casualty replacement system, as there was in the Second World War, because there isn’t the manpower available, so this platoon has been put out of action.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Thomson, commanding officer of 2 Rifles, said: “It has been a grim day here in Sangin but at the end of the day, as we prayed for our fellow riflemen who have given their lives in the service of their country and for the good of the Afghan people, the Bugle Major sounded the advance and it would have been heard right across the valley as the sun slipped behind the ridge.

“We turned to our right, saluted the fallen and the wounded, picked up our rifles and returned to the ramparts. I sensed each rifleman tragically killed in action today standing behind us as we returned to our posts and we all knew that each one of those riflemen would have wanted us to crack on.”

As details began to emerge of the fatal few minutes before the hidden bomb detonated, it became clear that 9 Platoon fell victim to a Taleban ambush that involved two linked devices, the second far more powerful than the first.

The platoon had set off before 5am from Forward Operating Base Wishtan, near Sangin, where the 2 Rifles battle group is based.

Overnight the insurgents had planted two bombs, apparently predicting, on the basis of previous patrols, which route the troops might take. The Taleban employ “dickers” (spies) to look out for troops on the way. The insurgents’ eyes and ears are farmers in the fields and even teenagers intimidated into providing information.

The first explosion happened at about 5.20am close to the 4ft-thick walls of compounds in which the local residents live, and which the Taleban used for their attack before melting away. One member of the platoon was killed and several others injured. Within minutes, as the rest of the platoon rushed forward to help their comrades, there was a second, far more powerful explosion and three more soldiers from 9 Platoon were killed.

When RAF Chinook and American Pave Hawk casualty-evacuation helicopters turned up from Camp Bastion, 20 minutes’ flight time away, soldiers found improvised explosive devices had been hidden around the selected landing site, forcing them to land instead inside the relative safety of FOB Wishtan. The wounded had to be driven in vehicles to the helicopters. Despite the speed with which the rescue operations are carried out, one more soldier from 9 Platoon died after he had arrived at Camp Bastion.

Corporal Horne, from Walsall, platoon leader, had been around long enough in the Army to be a member of the 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets before it was merged into the new Rifles Regiment. He served with distinction in both the Green Jackets and 2 Rifles. In a tour of Iraq in 2006-07 he was wounded in action. He leaves a widow, Rachel, and two children, Frankie and Jessica.

Rifleman Aldridge, from Bromyard in Herefordshire, was fiercely proud that he was one of the youngest British soldiers in Helmand. He had turned 18 only on May 23.

Rifleman Backhouse, who was from Castleford in West Yorkshire, was one of four brothers. He had served with 9 Platoon, C Company, 2 Rifles since April of last year. He was a fitness fanatic.

Rifleman Murphy, from Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, was a light machinegunner with 9 Platoon. Rifleman Simpson, from Croydon in South London, “a larger than life character”, had already shown he had the potential to become a non-commissioned officer. He leaves an eight-month-old son, Alfie.

In the other incidents Corporal Lee Scott was killed in an explosion just north of Nad-e-Ali in central Helmand on Friday. He grew up in King’s Lynn in Norfolk. He and his wife, Nicola, were married in February last year.

Private John Brackpool, from Crawley in West Sussex, was killed by enemy fire while he was on sentry duty near Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, on Thursday. He leaves behind a partner and a son.

Rifleman Hume, from Maidenhead in Berkshire, was killed by an explosion while he was on foot patrol near Nad-e-Ali on Thursday. He was regarded in the Rifles as “a star of the future”. He was also a passionate, downhill mountain-bike racer.

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Antelme, a holder of the Distinguished Service Order, is to take over as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, following the death last week of Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe. Colonel Antelme won his DSO after leading an attack on an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq in 2007, armed only with a pistol when his rifle jammed.

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