TWO paratroopers killed in Afghanistan have been named.

Sergeant Major Michael Williams, of Colchester-based 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, was killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in the Upper Sangin Valley.

Private Joe Whittaker, a Territorial Army soldier attached to 2 Para, was killed while checking for mines.

The deaths, on Tuesday, happened in separate incidents that were part of the same operation.