Ruben Alonso Rois, who died in a suicide attack against Spanish troops in Afghanistan, was born in Vigo 30 years ago and had two sons, three years and four months respectively.

According to his wife, as she explained to the Europa Press agency reporter, Maria del Mar, Ruben left for Afghanistan on October 26 and would return home at the end of April next year.

On behalf of his family, his widow asked the media for the utmost respect and privacy during this painful time.

Juan Andres Suarez Garcia, who died in the suicide attack against Spanish troops in Afghanistan, was born in Mieres 41 years ago and lived from the age of five in Gijon. He studied at the college in Pumarin Alto.

At the age of 16 he decided to join the Army and went to the academy to start his training, where he qualified as a specialist in electronic telecommunications.

According t his family, he continued his military training in Lleida and was posted to Valencia, San Sebastian and El Ferrol.

62 members of the Spanish Military lost their lives in the early hours of May 26, 2003, when the Yak-42 aircraft they were travelling in crashed in Turkey. They were returning home after four months service in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan as part of the ISAF force.

The aircraft, manufactured in the former Soviet Union, crashed into a hill near the Turkish base of Trabzon after two unsuccessful attempts to land. The plane had left Kabul the previous night headed for the Spanish Air Force base in Zaragoza. On board were 62 Spanish service members and 12 crew from the Ukraine.

The fallen were from 15 units within the Army and Air Force. They formed part of rotation IV and carried out their mission under Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force.

Below are the names of those who died. They were nearly home.

BBC -- Tuesday, 16 August 2005. The Spanish defence ministry says 17 of its Nato peacekeepers have been killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Five other Spanish troops were hurt when a second Puma helicopter made an emergency landing, it said.

Some reports blamed mechanical failure but Madrid said it could not rule out that the incident near Herat, western Afghanistan, was caused by enemy fire.

CNN -- Tuesday, August 16, 2005. MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spain's defense minister says he has not ruled out hostile fire as the cause of a helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 17 Spanish soldiers.

"It could have been an accident or an attack," Jose Bono said, speaking to reporters at the Defense Ministry in Madrid. "The causes have not been fully clarified."

The troops -- among the forces providing security support for next month's elections in Afghanistan -- were serving under NATO command as part of a Spanish contingent of about 800 peacekeeping troops there. Most Spanish troops are based in Herat, in western Afghanistan.

Two Spanish soldiers have been killed and three more seriously injured in an attack on a Spanish patrol in Afghanistan. An Iranian interpreter was also killed in the blast which happened at 9am Spanish time close to Shewan, to the North East of Farah.

It takes the number of Spanish soldiers to die in Afghanistan to 20, 17 of them in the Cougar helicopter accident, the two today who remain to be named, and Idoia Rodríguez from Lugo who became the first Spanish woman soldier to be killed on a foreign mission in February this year.

All today’s victims were travelling in an armour-plated BMR vehicle which is reported to have run over a mine.

Minister for Defence, José Antonio Alonso, named the dead as Germán Pérez Burgos, a married man from Alange, Badajoz, and Stanley Vera Vera, born in Guayaquil in Ecuador.

Belt Iberica --Some of his relatives asked Isaac Calvo Pineiro, 20 years of age, why he wanted to enlist in the Army, he responded: "To help others". Although he was born in Ferrol, a city impregnated with military spirit, Isaac did not have the familiar longing to join.

His father, Manuel Angel, is a waiter of a well-known restaurant in the city. "But he, said that he wanted to be a military man", he affirmed to his uncle Joaquin Santaclara. So soon the single man finished and got ready. He was a sniper, although in Afghanistan he also took to servicing radios.

Belt Iberica --Lieutenant Javier Gonzalez Hernandez was 26 years old and from Madrid. He was married to his fiancé of 24 years of age just a month before. The wedding on July 2 was celebrated in Pozuelo de Alarcon (Madrid), her hometown.

family friends stated that she was afraid of flying, so both traveled by car to the coast to take a cruise as part of their honeymoon.

Lieutenant Gonzalez was the ranking officer of the 12 passengers of the Air transportable Light Brigade, when the chopper crashed. The Spanish mission in Afghanistan concluded on October 18, a month after the date anticipated for the countries legislative elections.

Belt Iberica -- The son of a Civil Guard, he always loved to play the military man.

For Juan Morales Parra, who along with Captain Guitar piloted the ill-fated helicopter, his family waited for him at the end of September. He had deployed to Afghanistan in May. It was not his first mission abroad.

During his 39 years, he had participated in at least five other deployments and was on his second or third tour in Afghanistan. According to his cousin Ruben Morales, he had served in Iraq and Bosnia.

Foros -- The military man was found unconscious in his store by a companion whom had returned from a run. Medical aid was rendered for more than one hour trying to stabilize him.

MADRID. At noon today is expected the arrival of the airplane from the Armed Forces carrying the body of the medical captain Jesus De La Pascua Belaustegui, who died Monday in Herat Afghanistan at 18:40 in the afternoon as a result of an illness shortly after practicing sport.

The captain, 46 years of age and father of two children, was a member of the aeromedical evacuation team 11 of Alcala and was found unconscous inside his tent by a companion with whom minutes before he had left to run, according to an explanation to this newspaper from the intelligence officer in the Spanish Base in Herat.