Captain Jones, pictured with his wife Isobel, was a popular officer

Army chiefs have vowed to track down those responsible for the blast which killed the solder and injured two others on Thursday.

Captain Jones, from Louth in North Lincolnshire, and his colleagues had been heading for a hospital in Basra when an "improvised device" was detonated as they passed a lamp-post.

The soldiers were from the First Battalion Queens Lancashire Regiment based at Catterick, North Yorkshire.

The Army believes the converted Land Rover they were travelling in - which was clearly marked with red crosses - was specifically targeted.

"We will find the perpetrators of this act and bring them to justice in an Iraqi court," Major Charlie Mayo, the Army's spokesman in Basra, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

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He said the forces in Basra would not be deflected from their job by the attack.

Maj Mayo said: "This is not going to change the way we do business.

"We will continue working with the local police, with whom we have a good relationship, and the local community which are well behind us."

Capt Jones, 29, had been married to wife Isobel for a year.

In a short statement released on Friday she said: "I am extremely proud of Dai.

'Popular officer'

"He was a wonderful husband who served his country with great courage."

Capt Jones joined the Army in December 1991 as a soldier in the Royal Army Medical Corps

He quickly rose through the ranks and his service included time in Northern Ireland, Botswana, Kenya, the United States, Canada, and on operations in Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Iraq.

A talented sportsman, he excelled at Rugby Union and was a valued member of the Battalion Rugby League team.

Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Mendonca, Captain Jones' Commanding Officer, said: "Dai Jones was a courageous, warm hearted and very popular officer who will be sorely missed.

Tensions have been rising in the southern Iraqi city

"The Battalion's thoughts are very much with his family, and especially his wife Izzy."

Capt Jones volunteered to deploy to the Gulf on Operation Telic in January this year, serving as a civil-military liaison officer.

After a period of leave in the UK in May, he returned to Iraq with the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, again undertaking civil-military liaison duties with an infantry company based in Basra.

His regiment has been carrying out patrols in and around Basra since June.

This is not going to change the way we do business Major Charlie Mayo

Basra has, on the whole, remained relatively calm since the war, compared to US-controlled areas in and around Baghdad.

Before Thursday, there had been only one incident since the war in which British soldiers were killed.

That was on 24 June, when six military policemen were trapped and killed in Al-Majar Al-Kabir during demonstrations against what were seen as heavy-handed weapons searches.

'Terrorists'

But tensions have recently been rising in the city, amid ongoing fuel and power shortages and temperatures reaching more than 50C.

At the weekend several British soldiers were injured when up to 2,000 people took to the streets, burning tyres and throwing stones at troops.

However, defence analyst Paul Beaver told BBC News this latest incident had been very different in nature.

"This looks like a step up in operations by a group you can only call terrorists," he said.

"This is very much a pre-meditated act of terrorism.

"There's no doubt at all what we're actually seeing here is someone making capital out of the fact there is now a greater awareness of discontent in the Basra area."