Anti-war protesters gathered at the cenotaph in Swindon to mark the death of the 100th British soldier in Iraq.

Andy Newman, from Swindon's Stop the War Coalition, read out the names of the 100 British soldiers who have lost their lives as well as the names of 100 Iraqi people who have perished.

The ceremony, at 6pm last night, ended with a two-minute silence.

Vigils were staged across the UK by anti-war groups to mark the death of the 100th British soldier since the conflict began in 2003.

The latest soldier to die in Iraq was Corporal Gordon Alexander Pritchard, 31, from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, who was killed in a blast in Umm Qasr, Basra province on Tuesday.

Mr Newman said: "It's partly to commemorate the dead but it's also because there needs to be a political debate about bringing the soldiers home.

"There needs to be an end date. We don't want to be back here when it's 200."

Chris Turpin, 55, a cab driver from Rodbourne, who was at the service, said: "It's significant that there have been 100 dead British soldiers in a conflict that we should never have been involved in in the first place.

"It's a terrible thing that all the lives have been lost, not just the British."

Ted Poole, 80, a retired technician from Penhill, said: "We were misled over the war. It's clear that from the start it's been about stealing Iraqi oil."