Four Britons killed in Iraq named

BAGHDAD, April 7 (UPI) -- Four British military personnel and their interpreter killed by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq included a close friend of Prince William.

The four who died were identified Friday as 2nd Lt. Joanna Yorke Dyer, 24, of the Intelligence Corps; Pvt. Eleanor Dlugsoz, 19, a nurse with the Royal Army Medical Corps; Kingsman Adam James Smith, 19, of the 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment; and Cpl. Kris O'Neill, 26, also a medic, The (London) Guardian said Saturday.

They were riding in a Warrior armored personnel carrier along with their Kuwaiti interpreter when it drove over the bomb. The vehicle then came under fire from what the Army said was a Shiite "rogue militia."

Dyer had been at Sandhurst military academy at the same time as Prince William, who was "deeply saddened" by her death, a royal spokesman said. Both were commissioned on the same day in December in a parade attended by the Queen.

"Jo was a close friend of his at Sandhurst and he is very much thinking of her family and friends right now," the spokesman said.

A total of 140 British Army personnel have died in the Iraq war, including five women.