THE body of the teenage Hampshire army medic killed in Iraq arrived back in Britain this morning.

Private Eleanor Dlugosz was one of four British Army soldiers killed when her armoured vehicle was blown-up by insurgents just south of the Iraqi city of Basra last Thursday.

The 19-year-old from Swanmore, known as Ella, and her colleagues were returned to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire where their coffins, draped in Union Jack flags, were received with full military honours.

British troops serving in Southern Iraq last night held a sunset repatriation ceremony at the Contingency Operating Base in Basra.

Friends and colleagues provided the bearer parties and troops from the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, the Intelligence Corps and the UK Medical Group formed the mourning parties.

In a tearful goodbye six army friends carried Pte Dlugosz's coffin to the plane waiting to fly her home.

The group, including young women, carried the flag-draped coffin as their way of saying goodbye to a colleague they described as "innocent and full of life".

Service personnel from 19 Light Brigade Headquarters, Multi-National Division South-East and the Danish Army were also present.

Scores of serving soldiers in Iraq have left messages of support and sadness on the Daily Echo's website in memory of Pte Dlugosz.

Her grieving mum Sally Peck, 41, said the family had been deeply touched by the tributes.

Ms Veck said her daughter was proud of what the British Army was achieving in Basra and Iraq.

She said she was doing a dangerous job she loved and nothing would have stopped her serving on the front line.

Pte Dlugosz who was brought up in Swanmore and did her preliminary Army training in Winchester, had been serving as a medic with the Royal Army Medical Corp.

She had only returned to Iraq the month before after completing her training as a medic, and had been charged with helping soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Duke of Lancaster's Battle Group.

Pte Dlugosz was killed when the Warrior Armoured Vehicle she was in was hit by a roadside bomb Three of her colleagues, Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer, Corporal Kris O'Neill, and Kingsman Adam James Smith also died in the attack, as well as a translator. A fifth solider remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Military chiefs said the incident had been the worst attack on British troops since 2003.

It brought the number of UK service personnel who have died since the hostilities in Iraq to 140, of whom 109 died in action.