A TEENAGE British soldier was stabbed to death early this morning during a confrontation with UK tourists at a nightclub in the popular Cypriot resort of Ayia Napa, police said.
Three British men – aged 17, 18 and 19 – were being held for questioning tonight and are due to appear in court tomorrow for a remand order, police added.
The 19-year-old victim was serving with the Second Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
“Today at around 3:30 am (01:30 GMT) while a group of British soldiers from Dhekelia garrison were enjoying themselves at a club in Ayia Napa they had a confrontation with three of their compatriots,” said police spokesman George Economou.
“During the confrontation one of the three drew what is
believed to be a knife injuring the 19-year-old soldier in the chest,” he added.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at Famagusta General Hospital in nearby Paralimni.
Mr Economou said a knife had been recovered at the scene of the crime and it will undergo forensic tests.
The suspects, who are being held in three separate police stations, are British passport holders. Two are of Pakistani origin and the third is of Somali origin, police sources said.
The cause of the fatal altercation at the Black and White Club – one of the oldest and most popular nightspots in central Ayia Napa – is being investigated. The victim was not being named until his next of kin have been informed.
He was serving in his regiment in Dhekelia, one of two strategically located British bases that Britain retained on the holiday island, a former colony, after independence in 1960.