Liam Fox to meet Army chief who quit amid fears for bomb disposal troops

Defence Secretary Liam Fox is set to meet the bomb disposal commander who is quitting the Army over fears his men are being sent to Afghanistan with insufficient training.

Colonel Bob Seddon said the stress on the overstretched military trying to produce more experts to tackle roadside bombs was behind his decision.

Last night Christina Schmid, the widow of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid GC, highlighted the inadequacy of support for the Army's bomb disposal experts in Afghanistan in Panorama programme A Very British Hero.

Mrs Schmid suggested that the British forces were caught unprepared by the Taliban's deadly offensive with concealed roadside bombs, the so called Improvised Explosive Devices, from 2002.

The Taliban now lay these by the dozen each day in some parts of Helmand. The IEDs have accounted for three-quarters of the British soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan and the hundreds more wounded. Mrs Schmid also said the services cut back on their Explosive and Ordnance Disposal teams back in 2002.

Dr Fox has pledged he will give front line troops all they need for their task in Afghanistan, while at the same time having to run a tight defence budget.

Mrs Schmid also attacked the previous government for not being fully accountable when it came to how it responded to requests from the Army for more money.