FAMILIES of Kent-based soldiers serving in Basra were anxiously awaiting news today after suicide bombers mounted their deadliest attacks on the British-controlled city.

Four co-ordinated terrorist bombings killed at least 68 people, including many children, in a city that had until Tuesday escaped the worst of violence affecting the rest of Iraq.

Five British soldiers were among the 100 or so people injured, one of them seriously.

As civilian bodies were recovered and crowds grew aggressive, Howe Barracks-based Highlanders and a platoon of locally-recruited Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (PWRR) soldiers were divided into companies of 20 men and dispersed into Basra.

The Ministry of Defence could not confirm whether they were among soldiers being stoned by angry mobs, but said the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the PWRR platoon attached to it were working in the aftermath of the bombings.

Soldiers of the regiments escaped injury in the blasts, which followed a weekend of bloodshed in the nearby town of Al Almarah that cost PWRR dearly.

Three soldiers belonging to the Canterbury regiment were flown home on Monday for emergency treatment at a British military hospital in Birmingham.

Two sustained bullet injuries to the arm and leg after coming under fire on Saturday night, and another suffered very serious injuries when a roadside bomb detonated on Sunday night.

Two more were treated for minor injuries in Iraq after Saturday night's attack.

The casualties flown home on Monday are soldiers who hail from Hythe, Surrey and Hampshire.

PWRR Regimental Secretary Colonel Michael Ball said: "One doesn't expect casualties like this but one must be prepared for it.

"As the tour gets longer and the level of violence goes up, the soldiers will be worried but they are professional soldiers and that is what they've been trained for.

"It is the friendship and support among them that will keep them going."

Emma Robinson, one of hundreds of anxious Army wives in Canterbury, is due to marry fiance PWRR Pte Phillip Bains, father to Megan, in September.

The 22-year-old former Chaucer pupil said: "It's really upsetting at the moment. He called on Monday and said things have got really bad out there. They are being ambushed and are confined to their camp. It is very dangerous."

Nuala McGee's husband, father and brother are all serving with the Highlanders in Iraq.

She said from her home at Canterbury's Howe Barracks: "I don't watch the news and I try to shield the children. I have to take the attitude that if there's anything I need to know I will be told, otherwise you panic.

"But I keep positive. It's just a few weeks till my husband's back now. You just think, 'Lord, bring him home safe.'