The six deaths are the regiment's biggest single loss for 50 years

The Royal Military Police soldiers all trained at a barracks in the city and a book of remembrance has been opened for them at its Cathedral.

The soldiers were based at Goojerat Barracks in Colchester, Essex, which had 26 military police officers serving in Iraq.

The service was held as the father of one of the soldiers suggested they had insufficient back-up when they came under fire, in Majar al-Kabir.

Military officials have announced that British troops are being sent back to the small southern town and have dropped leaflets to tell residents the soldiers want to "set up good relations with you".

'New significance'

It is thought the Royal Military Police (RMP) soldiers were attacked by a group of locals during demonstrations over what they saw as heavy-handed weapons searches.

The soldiers were remembered at a cathedral service originally organised to mark the 200th anniversary of Chichester's Roussillon Barracks.

RMP TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ Corporal Simon Miller, 21 Tyne and Wear Sergeant Simon Alexander Hamilton-Jewell, 41 from Chessington, Surrey Corporal Russell Aston, 30 Swadlincote, Derbyshire Corporal Paul Graham Long, 24 Colchester Lance-Corporal Benjamin John McGowan Hyde, 23 Northallerton, Yorks Lance-Corporal Thomas Richard Keys, 20 Bala, N Wales The soldiers who died Service to remember the dead

The Bishop of Chichester, the Right Rev John Hind, told the service that the thanksgiving would now also be a reflection on the loss.

He said: "The event was a poignant reminder of the cost of peacemaking, peacekeeping and community building.

"In this world, nothing comes except at a price and those six young deaths are part of the price that is being paid for the reconstruction of a country that has already suffered so much."

He said the Archbishop of Canterbury had offered his "sympathy and condolence" to all those affected by the deaths.

The RMP's Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stenning said there was "sad reflection" following the deaths, the regiment's biggest loss in a single day in more than 50 years.

'Hostile elements'

He said: "We have to carry on but our thoughts are with the families and the loss of our colleagues and friends and they will be foremost in our minds today."

As the service was held, Mr Keys was demanding to know more about the circumstances in which his 20-year-old son Thomas, a Lance Corporal, and the other soldiers died.

He said exactly what happened was still not clear.

Thomas Keys was among the six soldiers killed

But Mr Keys continued: "It would appear that they sent these six young men into a police station to do a job in a hostile country with hostile elements with very, very little support around them.

"To think that they could get trapped with no immediate support to call upon is of some concern to me."

Announcing the decision to send British troops back into Majar al-Kabir, military officials told its residents there would be no reprisals for the deaths.

The leaflets, dropped by plane, said: "We will not return to punish anyone since these are the methods of Saddam's regime.

"We will return to set up good relations with you because of our concern about a secure Iraq."

It was not clear from the leaflets when the troops would return.

'Misunderstanding'

Major General Peter Wall told the BBC that investigators were piecing together the events that ended with the six deaths.

"We know that they were in the police station, we know that they were overwhelmed by an aggressive crowd, we know that ultimately, and very sadly, they were all killed".

General Wall said there been a "misunderstanding" over weapons searches that could have triggered Tuesday's protests.