Slain soldiers' bodies to arrive in Christchurch

Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer and Lance Corporal Rory Malone. Photos / Supplied

The bodies of two New Zealand soldiers killed in a gun battle in Afghanistan at the weekend will arrive in Christchurch tonight.

Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer and Lance Corporal Rory Malone, both 26, were killed when their patrols went to the aid of ambushed Afghan police in Bamiyan province on Saturday night (NZT). Another six New Zealanders were injured.

The men's bodies were farewelled with a haka and ramp ceremony at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on Monday.

Their caskets, escorted by fellow members of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team on a United States Air Force C-17,

was due to land at Christchurch International Airport tonight, a Defence spokesman said.

Another ramp ceremony would be held tonight when the caskets would disembark from the military aircraft, he said.

Meanwhile, five of those injured have been moved to Landstuhl Regional Military Centre in Germany and another who was seriously injured remains in Afghanistan receiving treatment for gun shot wounds to the abdomen.

"His condition, while serious, has been described as stable," Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Rhys Jones said yesterday.

The identities of the six injured men have not been released.

Corporal Durrer and Corporal Malone were both about half-way through their deployment with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan when they were killed.

Corporal Durrer was from Christchurch and joined the army in June 2004. Corporal Malone was from Auckland and joined the army in 2002.