A ROYAL Dragoon Guards soldier preparing to deploy to Afghanistan has been seriously injured in an unprovoked gang attack.

The 22-year-old member of the tank regiment was beaten by up to six people as he was walking to a fast food outlet in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, at 4.35am, on Sunday.

He had left Louis’ Bar nightclub, in Kitchener Road, and was approaching the shops in Hildyard Row when he was attacked, moments after being confronted by the gang, who are all believed to be local.

The soldier was initially taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital with a suspected fractured eye socket and nose, and bruising to his head, neck and back, before being transferred to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

A police spokeswoman said swelling on the soldier’s face was so severe doctors were still determining the extent of his injuries.

She said the attackers had not been in the nightclub before the incident.

PC Nicola Pattinson, of Catterick Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “This was a disgraceful attack on a passer-by, which has resulted in serious facial injuries.”

Residents, traders and members of the Army said they had been stunned by the attack because there has been little tensions in the garrison town between local people and soldiers for several years.

An Army spokesman said: “This is a very rare incident, nothing like this has happened for a long time.”

David Parker, manager of Louis’ Bar, said there had been a good atmosphere at the nightclub on Saturday.

He said: “There was a pretty good mix of people in the club, it was a quiet night.”

A spokesman for Pizza Pizza takeaway, in Hildyard Row, said he did not understand the motivation for the attack.

He said: “We didn’t hear or see anything of it. The takeaway shut at 4am.”

The regiment, which recruits soldiers from the North of England and Ireland, is due to be deployed to Helmand province as part of Operation Herrick 17, and its members are training at the garrison to drive an array of combat vehicles.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call police on 101.