Dewsbury Man In Court Over Soldiers Facebook Comments

20 March 2012, 10:05 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A teenager from Dewsbury will appear in court today charged with writing racially aggravated comments on his Facebook about the six soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

19 year old Azhar Ahmed, is alleged to have posted the comments on his profile page and has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offence.

Ahmed, who was arrested on Friday and charged over the weekend, will appear before Dewsbury Magistrates.

He has been bailed to an address outside the county.

The six were killed by an IED in Lashkar Gah on March 6, in the deadliest single attack on British forces in Afghanistan since 2001.

Sergeant Nigel Coupe, 33, of 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment was killed alongside Corporal Jake Hartley, 20, Private Anthony Frampton, 20, Private Christopher Kershaw, 19, Private Daniel Wade, 20, and Private Daniel Wilford, 21, all of 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment.

It took the number of UK troops who have died since the Afghanistan campaign began in 2001 to 404.