The 150th British casualty in Iraq was named yesterday as Corporal Rodney Wilson.

Corporal Wilson, 30, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, was shot as he stepped into heavy fire during an attempt to rescue a wounded colleague in the district of al-Atiyah, northwest of Basra, early yesterday. He was airlifted to the main British base in the city but died about 1½ hours later, at 3.40am.

The Ministry of Defence said that despite the death, the Rifles succeeded in their mission, uncovering the largest cache of weapons yet found by 1 Mechanised Brigade — the lead British formation in Iraq — and that five suspected insurgents had been detained.

The MoD said that Corporal Wilson was taking part in a “search and detention” operation in al-Atiyah when he was shot by small-arms fire.

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Three other coalition troops were hurt but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Corporal Wilson was born in Rinteln, northern Germany. He served as a section commander in 4th Battalion The Rifles, which is based at Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, and was awarded a distinction in the Platoon Sergeant Battle Course — placing him in the top 2 per cent of infantry soldiers.

Experts cautioned that British troops were facing increasing danger and that pressure for a withdrawal would increase.

Paul Beaver, a defence analyst, said that British lives were being squandered in Iraq. “Iraq is a sideshow and Afghanistan is the heart of darkness, where the people who will destroy civilisation are,” Mr Beaver said.

Paul Rogers, a security consultant to the Oxford Research Group, expected Gordon Brown, who will become Prime Minister this month, to increase the pace of withdrawal — pulling all but 2,000 of Britain’s 7,500 troops out by the end of the year.

“Within the British Army they believe that Iraq is just not worth it any more,” he said. “There is quite a lot of bitterness that they have been set an impossible task by the politicians, and that view has intensified over the past couple of years. The general view is that it’s time to come home.”

Rose Gentle, the mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who died in Iraq in June 2004, said she was sickened to hear of another British death. “I think Gordon Brown should be thinking ‘This is the time, this is it, bring them home,’ ” she said.

As the Armed Forces reported Corporal Wilson’s death, hundreds of people attended the funeral of another member of the 4th Battalion The Rifles. Corporal Jeremy Brookes, 28, was laid to rest in Birmingham yesterday after a service with full military honours. He was killed by small-arms fire in Basra when his convoy came under attack on May 21.

His commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Sanders, said: “He was a remarkable man. What stood out was his zest for life. I don’t think a day of his life was spent in half-measures.” Major Peter Bullard, one of the Corporal Brookes’s comrades, said: “He loved the adventurous side of army life.”

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