Australian airman among the dead

One of the men who died when an RAF Hercules crashed in central Iraq was today named as a father of three originally from Australia.

Flight Lieutenant Paul Pardoel, 35, was killed when the aeroplane plunged into the desert yesterday.

Up to 15 troops were feared dead following the crash and an Iraqi militant group has claimed it shot the Hercules down.

Flt Lt Pardoel, from Victoria state, became the first Australian killed on military service in Iraq and Australian officials confirmed the death.

A statement said: "The Department of Defence can confirm that a former member of the Royal Australian Air Force who had enlisted in the Royal Air Force was a casualty on board the C130 Hercules that crashed in Iraq."

His father, John, 78, from Melbourne, said British High Commission officials rang him to tell him and his wife Margaret of their son's death.

Flt Lt Pardoel, his wife and young son and daughters have been living in England for the past three years.