World News 28-08-2001 British Soldier Killed In Macedonia who: British soldier Ian Collins what: Is first casualty of Operation Essential Harvest where: Macedonia when: Sunday night snippet: "The father of tragic British soldier Ian Collins said last night he should never have been sent to Macedonia," reports The Sun`s chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker. "Sapper Ian, 22, died on Day One of a Nato peace mission when youths hurled a concrete slab through his Land Rover`s windscreen." Sapper Collins`s vehicle was hit by a barrage of missiles thrown by youths from a bridge on Sunday night. He died in hospital nine hours after receiving a blow to the head. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said it was "mindless hooliganism" and NATO has condemned the attack as "disgraceful and tragic", says The Financial Times. They "declined to identify the crowd`s ethnic origin," says the report, "but officials indicated they were almost certainly Macedonian Slavs." The soldier, with 9 Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers, was part of the British contingent of Operation Essential Harvest to relieve ethnic Albanian rebels of their arms in a NATO-brokered peace deal. His parents Kevin, 46, and Susan, 43, "were grief-stricken after being given the grim news yesterday morning," says The Mirror. "We`re devastated. Words can`t express how we feel," said Mr Collins. "You don`t expect to receive such a call. We`re not used to dealing with anything like this. It hasn`t sunk in. Ian loved every minute of his life in the army, and now this. It`s such a terrible waste." [... more]

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