A brutal slaughter of conscripts

THE Cyprus Emergency consisted of a series of attacks on servicemen, on what was then a British colony, between April 1, 1955, and April 18, 1959.

The attacks were carried out by members of the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters, EOKA, who wanted the British removed.

Sniper attacks and bombings were the hallmarks and the vast majority of those killed were on National Service.

They were among the last conscripts to lose their lives in service of their country.

Barbed wire was strung across roads at neck height, off-duty soldiers were shot in the back and civilians too were caught up, including a mother and daughter slain as they shopped for a wedding dress.

The attacks stopped just a year before the island, seen by the British as of vital strategic importance, was granted independence.