KEIGHLEY MP and former soldier Kris Hopkins took part in a moving Remembrance Sunday ceremony at Enniskillen in Northern Ireland.

Following a cross-community service, wreaths were laid close to the spot where an IRA bomb killed 11 people and injured 63 others during the 1987 remembrance commemorations.

Mr Hopkins, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said he was honoured to be invited to lay a wreath on behalf of the British Government.

Others at the ceremony included Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster.

"I was serving in the province with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment on that terrible day when terrorists attacked innocent people who had gathered to pay their respects to the fallen," said Mr Hopkins.

"Northern Ireland has moved on greatly since then. But those who died in Enniskillen 29 years ago will never be forgotten, just as we shall never forget the many servicemen and women who were killed fighting for our country in two world wars and other conflicts since.

"This year also marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme which claimed the lives of more than 400,000 British soldiers, including 19,240 on the first day.

"Of the nine Victoria crosses awarded as a result of that day, three went to the 36th (Ulster) Division which suffered more than 5,000 casualties and lost 2,069 men.

"Later in the same battle, the 16th (Irish) Division – made up mainly of soldiers from the south of the country – took 4,330 casualties, with 1,200 being killed.

"It was particularly appropriate that the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) took the time to travel north to Enniskillen – for the fifth successive year – to remember the many soldiers from all parts of Ireland who were lost in that awful conflict."