THE inquest into the death of a Hampshire Army medic killed in Iraq was due to take place today.

Private Eleanor Dlugosz was travelling in a Warrior armoured vehicle on her way back from a patrol near Basra when she was fatally injured in a roadside bomb attack.

The 19-year-old was killed on April 5 last year in the early-morning attack by insurgents, who were later seen holding her helmet aloft.

She was one of four to die in the blast. A second woman, Second Lieutenant Joanna Yorke Dyer from the Intelligence Corps attached to the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, and two male soldiers from the Royal Army Medical Corps and 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment also died, along with a Kuwaiti interpreter.

Pte Dlugosz, known as DZ to her friends, was with the Royal Army Medical Corps and had first been deployed to Iraq in November 2006, but she had returned to the UK to complete a medical course and then travelled back to the war-torn country just weeks before her death.

She was playing a central part in the Close Support Medical Squadron and was enjoying the challenge of being a military medic, according to MoD officials at the time.

A horse-lover, she was described as a "strong, bright and capable young woman" who had quickly gained the respect of her colleagues.

Days after her death, Pte Dlugosz's body was flown back to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire - her coffin draped in a Union Jack - and received full military honours.

Her mother, Sally Veck, told at the time of the pride she had for her daughter and of the pain of her loss.

She said she knew her daughter had been doing a dangerous job, but that nothing would have stopped her serving on the front line.

Fighting back tears, Ms Veck, 41, added that, although she was hurt by television pictures showing Iraqis holding her daughter's helmet aloft, she knew her daughter had been helping the people of that country rebuild their lives.

She added: "She was my star all the time. She loved her job and she was my action girl."

The hearing to determine the cause of death will take place in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, this morning.