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Armed Forces: Death

Volume 489: debated on Thursday 19 March 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) combat and (b) non-combat deaths of personnel of each of the armed forces there were in (i) Iraq, (ii) Afghanistan, (iii) Germany and (iv) other overseas postings in (A) 2003 and (B) 2008. (264409)

The following table provides a breakdown by country of deaths to UK Service personnel:

Table: Combat and non-combat deaths to UK Service personnel, 2003 and 2008, numbers

2003

20081

Country2

All

Naval Service

Army

RAF

All

Naval Service

Army

RAF

Iraq3

Combat

40

14

24

2

2

0

1

1

Non-combat

12

1

9

2

2

0

2

0

Afghanistan

Combat

0

0

0

0

50

16

32

2

Non-combat

0

0

0

0

1

0

1

0

Germany

Combat

0

0

0

0

Non-combat

9

0

9

0

Other overseas

Combat

0

0

0

0

Non-combat

11

3

8

0

1 Data for 2008 are not available, other than for Iraq and Afghanistan, until 31 March 2009. 2 Country of death includes all personnel who died in that country regardless of their posting location. 3 Two Service personnel (one Army, one RAF) died as a result of non-combat injuries after return to the UK; these have been included in the Iraq fatalities.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel died in the UK as a result of (a) natural causes, (b) road traffic accidents, (c) suicide or self-inflicted causes and (d) other causes, including outstanding coroner's verdicts, in (i) 2003 and (ii) 2008. (264410)

The following table provides a breakdown by cause of death for UK regular service personnel.

Table: UK deaths by cause for UK regular armed forces personnel, 2003 and 2007, numbers

Cause of death

2003

2007

All

107

93

Natural causes

34

31

Road traffic accidents

39

35

Suicide and open verdicts

23

7

Other causes1

11

20

1 In addition, two service personnel died in the UK in 2007 as a result of injuries sustained as a result of hostile action in Iraq.

Of the deaths as a result of “other causes” in 2003, there is one death awaiting a coroner's inquest.

Of the deaths as a result of “other causes” in 2007, the latest year the Defence Analytical Services Agency has published cause of death information, there are seven deaths awaiting a coroner's inquest.