Soldier who battled Taliban dies due to pothole

LONDON - A soldier who survived fierce fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan was killed in Britain when he swerved his cycle to avoid a pothole and was hit by a vehicle, a media report said.

Twentynine-year-old Captain Jonathan Allen suffered head injuries when he tried to avoid the large pothole in the road and collided with a passing lorry, Daily Express reported Tuesday.

He was returning from barracks along the busy road on Salisbury Plain to his home in Burbage, Wilts.

It is believed he didn’t see the pothole until the last minute, the media report said.

Wiltshire police have launched an investigation and a spokesman said: The collision occurred on a stretch of road where there is a pothole, although it is too soon to say whether this was to blame.

Councillor Andrew Connolly was quoted as saying: This hole was more like a trench than a pothole. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this crater was a direct causal factor behind this young mans tragic death.

“He either ploughed into it without seeing it and then fell in front of the lorry or swerved at the last minute to avoid it. Either way, the pothole was undoubtedly to blame. The state of some of the roads is shocking.