Soldier shot dead on foot patrol in Afghanistan named

Published: 10:31AM GMT 03 March 2010

Rifleman Carlo Apolis from A Company 4 Rifles Photo: PA

Rifleman Apolis, 28, from A Company 4 Rifles, was concerned in small arms glow nearby a unit bottom north easterly of Sangin on Monday.

His partner Rebecca Williams, from Cardiff, said: ""Carlo was my most appropriate crony and we common all together. I miss him so most and he will regularly be with me in my thoughts.""

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Rifleman Apolis, creatively from South Africa, was shot 700 metres afar from a unit base.

Nicknamed "Apollo", he worked at a road house in Exeter prior to fasten the Army.

Ms Williams added: "Most people will have well known Carlo as fun amatory and rarely entertaining, someone who could have you grin and be the cause of you when you were feeling down.

"But outward work he additionally had a most quieter and some-more indifferent side that not most people would have seen, and he favourite to keep his personal hold up private."

Rifleman Apolis leaves at the back of his relatives and dual sisters.

A sum of 268 British infantry have died given troops operations in Afghanistan began in 2001.

Lt Col Nick Kitson, autocratic military officer of 3 RIFLES Battle Group, said: "Rifleman Apolis was an superb infantryman and a indeed dedicated part of of this conflict group.

"Wounded formerly in this debate of duty, it was a symbol of his integrity and joining that he squandered no time returning to his group and stability with the critical work that they are you do here in Sangin.

"He fell to rivalry glow at the forefront of an critical move to increase the security footprint for the great of the internal population."

Major Richard Streatfeild, of A Company 4 RIFLES, said: "Rifleman Carlo Apolis was a South African and a rifleman.

"This was no typical soldier. He had come a prolonged approach to do his job; half approach turn the world. He was a rifleman since he longed for to urge himself.

"Whilst he was a British infantryman he never lost his temperament as a South African. A partner of cricket and rugby, the highs and lows of assorted matches have peppered the conversations in the last dual years."

Rifleman Richard Reading, of 2 Platoon, A Company 4 RIFLES, added: "Apollo was, in a word, morale. As well as being the platoon"s joker, he was a unequivocally close crony of mine. His loss is definitely awful and has come as a outrageous shock.

"Apolis and I common hundreds of opposite practice together, from personification unsentimental jokes on alternative riflemen to carrying a great old throw with the Taliban.

"No make a difference what the situation, with him it regularly finished with a break-out of laughter."

Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, said: "I was so really contemptible to sense of the genocide of Rifleman Carlo Apolis and it has obviously come as distressing headlines to his most friends in the Army.

"Not usually was he looked up to by most associate soldiers as a valued source of guidance, but most of his comrades recollect fondly his unchanging capability to lift morale. My deepest sympathies are with Rifleman Apolis"s family and friends at this time."