Hundreds of people have lined the streets of the town of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire to pay their respects to an Edinburgh-based soldier and fire other servicemen whose bodies have been returned to the UK. 

Serjeant Phillip Scott, 30, from 3rd Battalion The Rifles, was killed in an explosion in Helmand Province on Thursday.  

His platoon was attached to B Company during an operation in the town of Sangin aimed at increasing security for locals.

The bodies in union-flag draped coffins were driven through the town in a cortege of six hearses on its way from RAF Lyneham to the John Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford.

The six bodies  were flown back on an RAF Globemaster plane, and family members were given time alone with the bodies of their loved ones before the procession through the town. It is the 98th time the town has marked the return of the bodies of servicemen with a ceremony.

Serjeant Michael Gibbons, of 3 Rifles, who recently returned from Afghanistan, paid tribute to his fallen comrade. He said "Scotty" was an amazing man who adored his family.

He said: "It has been a very hard week. The last memory I have of Scotty is his laughter - it was infectious, he was an amazing guy.

"He adored his wife and children and he was very family- orientated. The family will get around them and be a great help to them."

Sjt Gibbons said he was asked to attend today's repatriation by the regiment in Afghanistan.

"I was asked to come here by the regiment to deliver a message and our symbol which means to lead from the front, which was what Scotty was doing when he was taken from us," he said.

"It is important to be here for the boys out there. They asked me to come here to bring Scotty home.

"I have never been Wootton Bassett before. You see and read about it but to be here brings tears to my eyes, it's an amazing place."

Serjeant Scott was born in Malton in North Yorkshire. He joined the Army in 2001, completing initial training at the Army Training Regiment, Winchester, and the Infantry Training Centre, Catterick before passing out to join C Company, 2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry in January 2002.

Just over a year later he was promoted to Lance Corporal and deployed to Iraq as Second in Command of a Rifle Section. In 2004 he passed the Section Commanders' Battle Course in Brecon at the same time as his brother Robin. He also served in Northern Ireland and Iraq.

Serjeant Scott leaves behind his wife, Ellen, and two children; Ellie, aged three, and Michael, aged one. They all lived together in Edinburgh.

The five other servicemen whose bodies were also repatriated were killed when a member of the Afghan police force opened fire on the British soldiers who were training them.