The bodies of three Folkestone-based Gurkhas killed by a rogue Afghan soldier have been repatriated back to Britain today.

Major James Joshua Bowman, 34, Lieutenant Neal Turkington, 26, and Corporal Arjun Purja Pun, 33, were flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire at 11am.

A ceremony at the base involving their families followed.

That afternoon the men's cortege passed through the town of Wootton Bassett where locals by custom lined the High Street pay their respects.

A fourth body followed the same journey, that of Marine Matthew Harrison, of 40 Commando Royal Marines who was killed in the same day in a separate incident.

Major James Joshua Bowman, Lieutenant Neal Turkington and Corporal Arjun Purja [Picture: via MOD]

The three Gurkhas were killed in their base at night.

Major Bowman was shot as he slept and Lt Turkington and Cpl Pun killed by a rocket propelled grenade fired into the command centre.

It happened in the Nahr-e-Sarah district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, July 13.

Their assailant was an Afghan soldier they were training and a manhunt was launched to find him.

All three victims were members of the 1st Battalion Royal Gurkha Rifles, based at Sir John Moore Barracks at Shorncliffe.

Floral tributes were laid at a Gurkha statue inside the barracks. The tragedy plunged the rest of Folkestone into mourning with the town council holding a minute's silence last Thursday night.

Mayor Tom McNiece described the deaths as a "terrible shock" for the town.

Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins vowed to write personally to the three bereaved families.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the attack was "appalling" but was by a rogue element and not typical of the Afghan National Army.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox described it as a "despicable and treacherous act".

Late last week a man claiming to be the Gurkhas' killer spoke to the BBC's Kabul bureau.

He claimed he had acted alone and had since joined the Taliban.

Somerset-based Marine Harrison, from Hertfordshire, was shot dead on the same day the three Gurkhas died, in a separate incident.

He died while on foot patrol, on the day before his 24th birthday, in Sangin.

Four more servicemen died last Friday and Saturday, pushing up the total number of British personnel killed in Afghanistan to 322.