Tributes have been paid to a Scots soldier killed in action in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Lance Corporal Joseph Pool, from Greenock, who served with The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed on Sunday in a rocket attack during a search in the Nad-e Ali district.

He had been due to return home next month.

His death comes less than two months after fellow Greenock soldier Lance Corporal Stephen Monkhouse was killed trying to rescue a comrade..

L-Cpl Pool, 26, is survived by his fiancee Lynsey Houston and their children Lee, 7, and Jamie, 2, his parents, Stella and Roderick, and brother Ryan.

A family statement released last night said: “He lived life to the full and was proud of everything he achieved in the Army, always putting others first and doing the best he could at all he did.”

His fiancée added: “Joe was a loving fiancé and wonderful dad of two boys.”

The lifelong Celtic fan recently qualified as a physical training instructor. He boxed for his battalion and was described “as fit as a butcher’s dog” by Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Herbert.

He also had a kindhearted reputation, rescuing an abandoned puppy in Afghanistan where it was being used as a football by local children.

Major Marcus Mudd, Officer Commanding 4th Mechanised Brigade Reconnaissance Force, said it was a privilege to work with such an outstanding character.

Meanwhile, the MoD said the soldier who died in Birmingham on Sun-day after being injured in Afghanistan on August 24 was Captain Andy Griffiths, of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.