The body of the Special Air Services soldier killed in Afghanistan last week has arrived in New Zealand.
Lance Corporal Leon Smith was killed while securing a compound during a joint Afghan Crisis Response Unit and SAS operation in Wardak province near Kabul on 28 September.
[image:3254:full]SAS comrades farewelled the 33-year-old from Afghanistan with a haka and a ramp ceremony was held.
The soldier's body was flown to an undisclosed transiting point by an Australian Defence Force C17 aircraft before being put on a flight to New Zealand.
The Defence Force will hold a funeral for the soldier at the SAS base in Papakura on Thursday. A private family funeral will also be held later this week.
Lance Corporal Smith is the second SAS soldier killed in Afghanistan, and his death brings the number of New Zealand soldiers who have died in the country to four.
In August this year, SAS trooper Corporal Doug Grant, 41, was killed during a mission to rescue people from a British Council building during a Taliban attack in Kabul.
