THE PARENTS of a soldier shot dead by dissident republicans in Northern Ireland said last night that their lives had been ruined.
Patrick Azimkar (21), died with Mark Quinsey (23), in a gun attack at Massereene Barracks, near Antrim, on March 7th last year.
Real IRA gunmen opened fire as members of the Royal Engineers collected a pizza delivery hours before they were due to redeploy to Afghanistan.
Sapper Azimkar was posted to Antrim in 2008 and his parents said he quickly felt at home in Northern Ireland. Mr Azimkar’s father Mehmet told the BBC: “I mean, what did they gain by destroying our lives and his life and the other boy’s life? I keep asking the same question to myself. What the hell did they gain? Did they gain anything?”
His mother Geraldine added: “If we’d lost Patrick in Afghanistan, of course it’s not worse, we’d still lose him and we’d still have the same devastation. But it’s just so difficult to get your head round. And also why and how? What’s the point? What was the purpose?”
The 38th Engineer Regiment are moving from Massereene to Aldergrove, Antrim.
The soldiers’ deaths came two days before Constable Stephen Carroll (48), was shot dead by another dissident group, the Continuity IRA, at an emergency callout in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
It has emerged that a soldier injured in the Massereene attack has been discharged from the Army on medical grounds. The sapper suffered multiple injuries. – (PA)