THE British Army suffered its heaviest combat casualties on a single day since the 1991 Gulf War yesterday when six soldiers were killed and eight wounded in two separate attacks in southern Iraq.

Last night Major-General Peter Wall, commander of the 1st (UK) Armoured Division, responsible for the 12,300 British soldiers in Iraq, ordered an urgent “risk assessment” to decide whether new protection measures were needed.

Six soldiers from the Royal Military Police were killed in a village about 16 miles south of al-Amarah. Earlier a vehicle patrol involving troops from the 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, was ambushed. They were the first attacks on British Forces since the war ended on May 1.

Both the Queen and President Putin expressed regret at the deaths at a Buckingham Palace banquet last night to mark the start of the Russian leader’s state visit to Britain.

In a last minute amendment to her speech, the Queen said: “It is no secret that there were significant differences between our two countries earlier this year on how best to handle Iraq. But we are now able to look forward together, firmly in agreement on the route we have decided in the United Nations, although the tragic loss of British lives today reminds us all of the difficulties to be faced.”

A spokesman for Tony Blair said: “The Prime Minister heard the news with great sadness and it goes without saying that he believes those who died have died with honour doing a very worthwhile job, serving their country with great distinction.”

Last night, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, told the Commons in an emergency statement that all next of kin had been informed. He passed on his condolences to the families and said that the troops in Iraq would “not be deflected by the enemies of peace”.

The six members of the RMP — “Red Caps” — who had been training a local Iraqi police force, died at a police station in the village of alMajar-al-Kabir.

Mr Hoon said that earlier a large number of Iraqi gunmen had attacked the Paras with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns while they were conducting a routine patrol in two Land Rovers near the same village.

Both vehicles were destroyed. One paratrooper was injured. The paras returned fire and called for assistance. When a “quick reaction force” arrived in an RAF Chinook, the gunmen opened fire again, aiming at the twin-rotor helicopter. Six soldiers from 1 Para and an RAF reservist doctor on board were injured, three seriously.

The Chinook managed to take off with the injured and flew them to a field hospital. Two were flown on to Kuwait for hospital treatment.

Army investigators were last night trying to discover whether Shia extremists, foreign “mercenaries” or Fedayin militia were responsible.

The region south of al-Amarah is acknowledged to be a “tricky area” where many of the inhabitants have “failed to come to terms with the fact that Saddam has been deposed,” one source said.

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