A SOLDIER from the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment has been killed during secret training exercises in the Gulf. He died on July 27.

The Ministry of Defence has not named the man or stated the circumstances of the death while inquiries take place.

Because the man was training in Oman, it will fuel the belief that he was preparing for possible involvement in future US-led missions inside Iraq.

The elite troops regularly practise covert parachute techniques, including the hazardous HALO jump leaping from an aircraft at high altitude and opening the parachute at the last possible moment to avoid radar detection.