A North Yorkshire-based soldier was killed when an Afghan insurgent triggered a suicide bomb, an inquest has heard.
Rifleman Suraj Gurung, 22, died instantly when the ball bearing-packed device exploded as he approached the Afghan national.
The soldier, of the 1st Battalion the Royal Gurkha Rifles, was on patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province when he was killed.
Two other soldiers, including his commanding officer, were injured in the blast on October 2, 2010.
The inquest, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, heard a post-mortem examination revealed Rifleman Gurung died almost instantly from a penetrating head injury caused by a ball bearing.
Rifleman Gurung moved from the tranquil foothills of the Nepalese Himalaya to Catterick as a trainee Rifleman in January 2008.
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