Sappers' Murders Commemorated

As suspected republican dissidents prepare to stand trial for the murders, a service of commemoration will be held today to mark the second anniversary of the shock murder of two soldiers at Massereene barracks in Antrim.

Colin Duffy, 43, from Lurgan, and Brian Shivers, 45, from Magherafelt will also face six counts of attempted murder for their alleged role in the shooting of sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey, from the 38 Engineers Regiment.

Today, comrades of the young soldiers (pictured) will hold a service in private in the grounds of Aldergrove barracks after the regiment moved to their new base last year.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said the occasion would be "low key" but an "important act of remembrance" for the pair who were gunned down by the so-called Real IRA as they collected a pizza on a Saturday night.

They were shot and killed just as they were due to leave for a tour of duty in Afghanistan and days before Constable Stephen Carroll became the first member of the PSNI to be murdered by dissident republicans.

The 38 Engineers Regiment returned from their tour of duty last year and is currently undergoing training in preparation for another tour of Afghanistan, possibly before the end of this year.

They were killed in an attack at Massareene Barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland, on Saturday 7 March 2009 and four other people were injured in the attack which took place just outside the barracks when a number of gunmen attacked members of 38 Engineer Regiment waiting at the front gate.

Sapper Azimkar was 21 and came from London. He joined the Royal Engineers in 2005 and completed his basic recruit training and combat engineer course before attending artisan training as a carpenter and joiner.

Sapper Azimkar was looking forward to facing the challenges of his first operational tour and the potential of JNCO (Junior Non-Commissioned Officer) training thereafter.

Meanwhile, soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment (1 R IRISH) have been reported as having discovered a large Taliban weapons cache during a patrol in the Nawabad desert area of Helmand province.

The commander, Captain Ben Davis, was leading the patrol when he was tipped off about a weapons hide that it was initially thought consisted of four rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) warheads.

Following compound searches in possible insurgent locations, Wildcat 10 then searched a walled poppy garden to the east of the target area.

The initial find of the four RPG warheads was confirmed and Captain Davis then made the decision to rummage through the rest of the compound.

Captain Davis said: "This weapons cache is an important find for the Nad 'Ali district. The weapons and ammunition that were recovered will undoubtedly have saved the lives of Afghan and ISAF forces, and the amount that was recovered would have provided an extremely heavy weight of fire for the Taliban during an engagement with any of our forces."

(BMcC/GK)