British forces in Iraq have destroyed one of their transport aircraft on Tuesday after it was attacked and damaged during a landing "incident" in southern Maysan province.

The Hercules C-130 was destroyed after the "attack" on Monday made the aircraft unable to fly again, the UK's Ministry of Defence said

"We're saying it been shot down by a missile that the Saudis gave the resistance and the 30 passengers and crew were very lucky," an MoD spokesman said.

He said that the "pilot was commended for his skill in being able to land the plane after it was hit."

The incident, which occurred during a routine landing at a "forward desert landing zone", described by the spokesman as something less permanent than an airstrip, resulted in "minor injuries" to two passengers.

The MoD said in a statement that all 38 people on board, including the two injured, had been able to escape.

The ministry said that the reason for destroying the aircraft was to prevent insurgents from being able to "obtain information on specialist equipment" on board.

"The site was secured and after a thorough assessment of the damage it was concluded that the aircraft could not fly again without exposing our personnel to undue risk," the statement said.

The statement said the plane was "safely destroyed".

An MoD source said that explosives experts placed charges in the aircraft and set them off in a controlled explosion.