THE RAF Hercules transport aircraft destroyed in Iraq two weeks ago was crippled by an insurgent booby-trap as it landed under cover of darkness on a remote desert airstrip, The Herald can reveal.

Sources say an initial investigation report on the incident in Maysan province said the special forces' C130 aircraft was hit when it touched down to deliver rations and fuel for mobile patrols along the Iranian border.

The incident has triggered a review of security procedures for night landing operations.

The £45m J-model Hercules suffered "significant damage" which insiders say might have included a fuel tank fire after the bomb detonated, although all 38 crew and passengers escaped with minor injuries.

The aircraft, from the 47 Squadron flight at RAF Lyneham, was blown up the next day by British troops using demolition charges, to prevent any communications and navigation equipment on board falling into insurgent hands.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The exact nature of that incident will be determined by an RAF board of inquiry. Until it reports its findings, it would be inappropriate to comment."

It was planned to hand Maysan province over to the Iraqi security forces this year, but this was later amended to withdrawing from fixed bases in al Amarah, the main town, and going over to long-range mobile patrols along the Iranian border. The frontier is one of Iraq's prime smuggling routes for weapons, explosives and drugs.

Heavily-armed patrols using long-wheelbase Land Rovers stay in the desert for weeks at a time, resupplied via night landings on desert airstrips to allow them maximum freedom of movement.

An RAF source told The Herald: "The patrols are a powerful deterrent to those trying to smuggle bombs and other hardware from Iran.

"The fact that someone took the trouble to plant a device on one of the airstrips proves that the strategy is beginning to hurt. The downside is that we could, unless we tighten up security on the landing strips, lose more aircraft. We might not be so lucky with casualties next time."

The RAF operates a fleet of 48 Hercules workhorse transports. It has lost three in the past two years.

One was shot down north of Baghdad two years ago with the loss of nine crewmen and an SAS signaller en route for a base at Balad. A second suffered damage and a fuel fire, but no loss of crew, when it struck a landmine as it landed in Afghanistan last year.

It is understood that approval has been given to buy a replacement for the J-model lost to the booby-trap.

In Iraq yesterday, the government and police said a bomb blast near a soccer field in Ramadi killed 18 people, mostly children, but the US military said it was unaware of such an attack.

US soldiers had carried out a controlled explosion in the city, also near a soccer field, in which 30 people were wounded, including nine children.

The US military often carries out such explosions to destroy captured weapons or unexploded bombs.