The funeral of a Black Watch sergeant killed while on foot patrol in Afghanistan is taking place in Inverness.

Stuart Millar, 40, died in a grenade attack in Helmand on August 31. He was targeted by insurgents while patrolling the Babaji district with 24-year-old Private Kevin Elliott, who was also killed.

Inverness-based Sgt Millar, the father of a young child, will be remembered in a service in Fort George barracks outside the city.

Following his death, the mortar fire controller known as "Gus" was described by colleagues as "the solid rock amongst the shingle".

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright said: "He was one of a very select few characters in the battalion that I could sound out for 'ground truth', due to his friendship, honesty, integrity and humour. He was a wonderfully kind and dependable man."

Sgt Millar was said to have looked out for his colleagues as the eldest in the Alpha (Grenadier) Company.

Second-in-command Captain Samuel Newson said: "It sometimes felt as if someone had brought their grandad along, albeit a grandad who could move around the battlefield at alarming pace and co-ordinate fire missions at the same time.

"The paternal aspect to Gus was in reality due to his irrepressible good humour and the reassuring calm with which he brought to any situation. He leaves a huge void in the company."

Sgt Millar joined the Army in 2000 from the Territorial Army and served in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands, Cyprus and Iraq. He leaves behind his wife Jillian and two-year-old Grace.

The sergeant was interviewed on camera by ITV News as he took part in the recent Operation Panther's Claw to clear insurgents from an area north of Lashkar Gah. He told journalist Geraint Vincent how he kept a picture of his daughter in his back pocket.

The funeral of Pte Elliott was held in Dundee on Tuesday.