A SOLDIER is seriously ill in hospital after being stabbed during a barrack-room brawl at Britain's biggest Army base.

He was stabbed in the stomach during the fight, at the Catterick Army base, in North Yorkshire, in the early hours of Saturday.

The young recruit was taken to the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, by ambulance ,where he underwent emergency surgery.

Another soldier was arrested and yesterday was being questioned by detectives at Northallerton police station.

An ambulance crew, including a paramedic, was scrambled to the scene at Vimy Barracks shortly before 3am.

They arrived to find a man, in his early 20s, bleeding from a stomach wound.

The Royal Military Police were called and, because of the extent of his injuries, the case was handed over to the civilian police.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said yesterday: "We received a report from the guardroom at the barracks at about 5am. It turned out the injuries had been caused during a fracas between two soldiers."

The investigation was passed to North Yorkshire CID when the seriousness of the wounded soldier's injuries became clear.

"The soldier underwent surgery at the Friarage and we are now liaising with the military police in our investigation," said the spokesman.

He said the injured soldier was stabbed in the stomach during the fight, but as yet no names or exact ages of those involved in the incident have been released.

Vimy Barracks is part of the Infantry Training Centre, which is home to about 1,200 young soldiers and where they undergo a 26-week basic training course.

A military spokesman said yesterday the Army was aware of an incident at Catterick and was investigating it. A recruit was in hospital as a result of the incident, he confirmed.