内容摘要：More than 30 soldiers were killed in Sunday's attack, according to sources quoted by the Reuters news agency, however that figure has not been confirmed by the authorities.

More than 30 soldiers were killed in Sunday's attack, according to sources quoted by the Reuters news agency, however that figure has not been confirmed by the authorities.

It includes an imagined conversation with Matar. "I thought if I was to really meet him, to ask him questions, I wouldn't get very much out of him," Sir Salman told Radio 4."I doubt that he would open his heart to me. And so I thought, well, I could open it by myself. I'd probably do it better than a real conversation would."

The fictional conversation was brought to life by BBC film-maker Alan Yentob in an artificial intelligence animation created for a documentary last year.The results were "very startling", Sir Salman said on Monday. "I have to say it certainly made a point."The author was speaking on Radio 4 to pay tribute to Yentob, the BBC's former creative director, who died on Saturday.

"Apart from everything that everybody's been saying about him - that he was an unbelievable champion of the arts and so on - he also had a real gift for friendship," he said. "He was a very strong ally in bad times."Sir Salman added: "He was a great programme maker, and I hope that's how he will be primarily remembered."

Yentob leaves a "colossal" legacy, he said. "He's one of the giants of British media in the last generation, and I think he will be remembered as a maker of great programmes, as an enabler of great programmes."

The pair's personal and professional relationship extended to Yentob famously enlisting Sir Salman to take part in a spoof arm wrestle for a scene in BBC mockumentary W1A.In its social media post it says it is "currently working hard to reinstate as many affected pre-orders as possible."

The Switch 2 has already attracted some controversy from fans who questioned the price of some of its games - with a boxed edition of Mario Kart World coming in at £74.99.But this price appears not to have impacted the initial sales of the hardware, with most retailers now unable to take on new pre-orders so close to its launch.

Gamers who no longer have a pre-order may consider turning to the return of the midnight launch, which used to be part-and-parcel of game releases but has become far less common in recent years.At least one retailer has held back some stock in the hope of getting people through its doors - with Smyths promising a "limited" number of consoles will be available in-store when doors open on launch day.