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| Sunday, 7 March 2004 |
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Parents demand inquiry from MOD by Reggie Fernando Our London Corr. Parents of the sri Lankan-born British soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Kabul recently - Ranjith and Susan Kitulagoda have demanded an immediate inquiry into their 23-year-old son's (Jonathan Kitulagoda) death from the Britain's Ministry of Defence. The incident was exclusively reported in the Sunday Observer of February 22. The inquiry demand came soon after it was learnt that the Defence Ministry had declined to accede to requests for armoured vehicles to be provided to this particular unit working as peacekeepers in Afghanistan. According to an army spokesman Kitulagoda, at the time of the attack, was travelling in an Army Land Rover with soft canvas top and sides. The suicide bomber driving a taxi had detonated the 200lb of explosives just as Kitulagoda was overtaking the vehicle driven by the bomber. It has also emerged that repeated requests from this unit for armoured vehicles were turned down as all such vehicles had been sent to Iraq. However within days of Kitulagoda's death, and after this killing was raised in a House of Commons debate by Patrick Mercer, shadow defence secretary, an order was given to send a number of armoured vehicles to Afghanistan. Now the parents want to know the full facts that lead to their son's death. The father Ranjith Kitulagoda, 55, said: "What we want to know is why they sent the armoured vehicles after our son was killed. If this is correct we want a full investigation. We are yet to hear the real facts." Kitulagoda had been serving in Afghanistan since last November after graduating with a degree in marine navigation from Plymouth University. Prior to joining the Territorial army he had been a member of the cadet force and had won many trophies including 'Best Cadet' in 1997. A top officer from British Army Headquarters said: "It's not possible to say if Pte. Kitulagoda would have survived had he been in an armoured Land Rover, but his chances would have been much better." |
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