Military personnel return home to face questioning

London: The 15 British military personnel freed by Iran after a two-week diplomatic stand-off arrived back in England yesterday to cheers and to questions about the incident and its implications.

As flight BA6634 from Tehran touched down at London's Heathrow Airport the group burst into applause.

Dressed in military uniforms and carrying personal luggage, they briefly posed in a straight line for pictures before they were flown by helicopter to a base at Chivenor in Devon, 200 miles southwest of London, for a private meeting with their families, medical checks and debriefing.

The death of four British soldiers in Iran's neighbour Iraq has tempered joy over the return of the 15 marines and sailors, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

"Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 service personnel, so today we are also grieving and mourning for the loss of our soldiers in Basra who were killed as a result of a terrorist act," he told reporters as the plane landed.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference broadcast round the world on Wednesday he had decided to forgive and free the 15 even though Britain was not "brave enough" to admit they had strayed from Iraqi into Iranian waters.

The carefully stage-managed performance was seen by some as trying to soften the former Iranian Revolutionary Guard's vehemently anti-Western image abroad.