An Oxfordshire man has been shot dead in southern Iraq while working for a private security firm.

Simon Hall lost his life in what is believed to have been a drive-by attack by terrorists near a customs border point.

Three other people were wounded in the shooting.

Mr Hall, who was in his early 40s, was one of five people in a vehicle working for Securiforce International, one of several firms providing convoys and transport of supplies and equipment in Iraq.

Mr Hall, a former British Army regular serviceman, lived with his wife Sarah and three children in a village near Chipping Norton.

The attack happened at 11am Iraqi time on Friday.

An inquiry into his death is under way by Iraqi police and by Securiforce.

A spokesman for the company, Colonel Steven Thomas, confirmed to the Oxford Mail from his office in Kuwait yesterday that Mr Hall had been shot dead in the incident.

"There were also three other casualties among our employees.

"All five who were travelling in our vehicle were unarmed.

"I must stress that Mr Hall was not carrying any weapon. Some were clerical staff having to drive from Kuwait into Iraq.

"He was killed by a gunshot wound just inside Iraq. I cannot say anything more until we have carried out our inquiry into the incident and establish exactly what went on."

A statement from the family said: "Following the awful shock of Simon's death, his wife Sarah and all his family would like to thank everybody for their concern and sympathy but asked that they be left in peace to mourn and remember him."

Basra police have confirmed that there was a series of confused reports about incidents over two days - last Thursday and Friday - in southern Iraq.

Police Major General Ali al-Moussawi told news agencies that Iraqi customs police were checking the papers of British security men near the border on Friday morning.

A car drove by at high speed and opened fire, killing one Briton and wounding others.

Mr Hall used to work for Crescent Security Group, which was also involved in another attack just the day before when five of its employees were kidnapped. The convoy they were travelling in was hijacked by gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms, later understood to be Shiite militiamen.

The attack in which Mr Hall died happened near Safwan, a largely Sunni Arab city in southern Iraq.

The British military still has about 7,000 troops in the Basra region.

But private security firms like Crescent and Securiforce are in increasing demand to provide back-up services for business and other agencies in the highly dangerous environment.

Mr Hall and his family previously lived in Charlbury, but moved several years ago.

He was a member of the Charlbury branch of the Royal British Legion whose president Nick Potter said: "Everyone is in a state of shock about this.

"His family only just learned about his death on Sunday."

The Foreign Office yesterday said that Mr Hall's body was in the process of being repatriated to the UK via Kuwait in the next few days.