Burial for unknown soldier

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The remains of an unknown New Zealand soldier discovered in northern France will be reburied alongside those of his colleagues next Wednesday.

The body was found alongside two Auckland Regiment collar badges in December 2009 near the village of Longueval, a location that suggests the soldier died during heavy fighting in the region in September 1916.

The Defence Force says his remains will be reburied at the Caterpillar Valley cemetery in Longueval, where 125 New Zealanders killed at the Somme are buried, and a monument stands to 1205 others whose bodies were never found.