Andrew Whyte (54), Thurso Crescent, Menzieshill, died with an Iraqi colleague after being attacked by insurgents while driving in convoy near a power station they were guarding near the city of Beiji in central Iraq.

He had left Dundee to return to Iraq only on Sunday.

US Military spokesman Major Neal O’Brien said a group of rebel bandits had disabled Mr Whyte’s vehicle before killing two contractors. A third worker from Brazil is missing and thought to have been kidnapped by the rebels.

Speaking at his father’s second-floor flat, Mr Whyte’s son, also Andrew (29), said his family were overwhelmed with grief.

He said Mr Whyte’s partner, Janette Downie, had joined the family at his flat last night, along with his estranged wife Margaret (51), his mother Isabella, brothers Billy and Robert and daughter Gillian.

“Everybody’s really upset, we are a very close family and we were all together last night,” he said.

“It was my granny who told me, I don’t think anybody else felt able to.

“He only went out on Sunday, and my sister is really upset because she drove him to the airport and they were late getting there.

Obviously she’s wishing she hadn’t made it in time.

“He was doing security work out there, I don’t know the details but he told me bits and bobs about what they were doing.

“He knew the risks, he’d been out there five or six times over the past year and maybe he became accustomed to it, I don’t know.

“My dad had been in the army since I was about three or four, and he still had some dealings with them.

“We used to work together as a team doing forestry work after he left the army and then he went into security work.

“We were a real team, and although he wasn’t somebody who could show his emotions very well, he was really proud when I got my degree last year.

“He was very much a hands-on, tool man, quite happy-go-lucky and he used to say that if he had enough money to pay the bills and get a pint at the end of the week he was happy.

“I just hope he died quickly. He was my dad and although he was separated from my mum they were always still talking.”

Mr Whyte was working for British-based security consultants Janusian, which has operated across Iraq since April 2003, and provides protection for foreign contractors, diplomats and reconstruction projects in the strife-torn country.

It is not known if the ambush in which Mr Whyte died was provoked by the publication of photographs showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers, although a Stop The War Coalition spokesman said it believed the recently-published photographs would put the lives of British soldiers at greater risk and would lead to an increase in attacks on the military in and around Basra.

Dr David Claridge, managing director of Janusian, said, “We deeply regret the loss of our colleagues in Iraq and our thoughts are with all their families at this time.

“We are proud of their professionalism and dedication and of the role they played in trying to help in the reconstruction of that country.”

A further statement from the company was expected later.