MIDLAND nurses serving on the frontline in Afghanistan helped save the life of a toddler and her pregnant mother after they were caught in a crossfire as soldiers battled the Taliban.

Medics from Kings Heath Field Hospital, who are serving in dangerous Helmand Province, worked tirelessly on the toddler after she was flown in to Camp Bastion with her seriously injured mum.

The child, called Hamdia, had suffered a serious gunshot wound to her foot while her mother, who is 20 weeks pregnant, was shot in the abdomen.

It happened during a fierce battled between British soldiers and Taliban fighters

Hamdia, her mother, and the unborn child inside her survived the extraordinary ordeal, thanks to the skills and dedication of the medical staff.

Nurses from Birmingham’s 202 Field Hospital told how Hamdia’s father stood devastated outside the theatre as surgeons operated on his wife and child.

Major Kathryn Rickers, who works as a midwife at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, when not deployed with the Territiorial Army, said: “The dad was just distraught when they first came in.

“Can you imagine seeing your family fighting for their life on operating tables right next to each other?

“They didn’t speak any English either which must have made things even more frightening for them.

“But by the time they were all discharged from the hospital the interpreter was telling us that they were thanking us for everything we had done.”