Military award for army dog killed in Afghanistan

The animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross has been posthumously awarded to an army dog killed in Afghanistan.

Sasha and her handler, Lance Corporal Kenneth Rowe, detected weapons and IEDs, to find safe routes for their fellow soldiers across dangerous terrain.

They died as they served, side by side, in a Taliban attack in Helmand province in 2008.

Today, his family travelled from Newcastle to London to see Sasha be awarded the highest military award for an animal, the PDSA Dickin Medal.

Sasha was the 65th recipient since the award was launched in 1943.

Lance Corporal Rowe's family said he would have been 'extremely proud'.