A TRAINING incident in Iraq, has left a 21-year-old soldier dead just days after his battalion left Canterbury.

Lance Cpl Andrew Craw, from Clackmannanshire, in central Scotland, died on the training range in Basra in what an Army spokesman has described as a “tragic incident”.

An advance party from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders left earlier this week to help train Iraq’s new civil defence corps.

The battalion had been stationed at Howe Barracks only since September and the majority of the troops are not due to fly out until Friday, January 16.

Army officers are not revealing any further details of the incident while they conduct a full investigation.

But Lance Cpl Craw’s commander Lt Col Jonathan Gray said: “This is a tragic incident in the first few days of the battalion’s six-month operational tour in Iraq.

“Andy was a bright and promising soldier who will be sorely missed by all in the regiment.

“At present our thoughts are with his family who have asked for privacy at this very difficult and distressing time.”

L Cpl Craw was single and had not long returned from a two-week period of leave spent with his family in Scotland over Christmas and the New Year.