THE INQUEST has started into the deaths of six Red Caps killed by an Iraqi mob.

The families of the dead soldiers said today they were confident an inquest hearing will discover the truth of what happened.

Reg Keys, whose 20-year-old son Thomas was one of those who died, said the Armys cavalier attitude and a lack of duty to care for the men would become apparent in the inquest, which started today in Oxford.

Mr Keys said he was confident that Coroner Nicholas Gardiner would call for a public inquiry into the deaths on concluding his inquiry.

He said the men, all from 156 Provost Company, had been sent into a death trap when they moved in to Al Majar Al Kabir police station on June 24 2003.

This is the opportunity to know what happened to those six lads and put that information into the public domain, he said shortly before evidence began.

Up to now the information as to how they came to find themselves in this situation is very limited.

He said the Armys Board of Inquiry report, released 12 months ago, was insufficient. The inquest would reveal some surprises, he added.

Among them, he said, was that two days previously and on the same day, the Quick Response Force had been called in to rescue the Parachute Regiment from the same police station.

He said: For the Army to say these deaths could not have been prevented is simply not true - this town was a death trap.

The six RMPs, including Lance Corporal Ben Hyde, 23, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire; Corporal Simon Miller, 21, from Washington, Wearside; and Corporal Paul Long, 24, originally from South Shields, were in alMajar al-Kabar to train the local police force.

The three other RMPs killed were Sergeant Simon Hamilton-Jewel, 41, from Surrey; Corporal Russell Aston, from Derbyshire, and Corporal Thomas Keys, 20, from Wales.