RAF airmen return to Suffolk from Afghanistan

Families gathered at an airbase in Suffolk on Monday evening to welcome home their loved ones from Afghanistan.

Two Squadron RAF Regiment have returned from a six-month tour protecting the Nato airbase at Kandahar.

Aircraft brought the airmen home from Cyprus to Brize Norton before they travelled on to meet their families at their base at RAF Honington.

Their role in Afghanistan was to protect the key Nato airbase in southern Afghanistan from enemy attack.

However during the tour they lost two airmen.

Senior Aircraftman Luke Southgate was killed in February in an explosion north of the airfield.

On the day the airmen returned a short ceremony was held in his home town of Bury St Edmunds and a plaque was unveiled celebrating his life.

His family also planted a tree in his memory.

Last weekend Senior Aircraftman Kinikki Griffiths from One Squadron RAF Regiment was killed in a road accident while on patrol near Camp Bastion in Helmand province.

Described as an "exceptional" member of the regiment, he died just a few weeks before his 21st birthday.